Staff costs to prepare these recommendations have been accommodated using existing, budgeted staff resources. Some of the potential actions discussed in the recommendations would involve additional costs that cannot be accommodated within existing budgets. Estimated costs of existing and new/expanded actions are included in Table 1. The recommended allocation of $350,000 is necessary for continued implementation of two strategies.
The recommended action will result in a reduction of the County's General Fund Contingency Reserve of $350,000 and a corresponding increase in General Fund appropriations of the Public Works and Conversation and Development Departments. In accordance with the Board's General Fund Reserve Policy, a 4/5 affirmative vote of the Board is required to approve transfers from the Contingency Reserve.
At the request of the Board in 2018, an interdepartmental “Think Tank” team of experienced professionals from five different County departments - Sheriff’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office, the Department of Public Works, the Environmental Health Division of the Health Services Department, and the Department of Conservation of Development was formed to discuss the issue of illegal dumping and develop preliminary recommendations on how to improve efforts to reduce illegal dumping.
In October 2018, the Think Tank presented a preliminary list of illegal dumping strategies to combat illegal dumping to Board of Supervisors. The Board directed the Think Tank to do further outreach and return with final recommendations.
On June 11, 2019, the County Board of Supervisors approved a total of fifty-six (56) illegal dumping strategies recommended by the interdepartmental Illegal Dumping Think Tank and approved new funding in the amount of $378,000 for the six illegal dumping strategies which could not be implemented with existing budgets. The remaining 50 illegal dumping strategies were either proposed to be implemented within existing budgets in the initial phase or as part of a future phase.
In September 2019, Supervisors Burgis and Glover convened the first meeting of the Board’s Illegal Dumping Ad Hoc Committee. The Committee had met periodically as needed to hear updates on implementation.
APPROVED FUNDING ALLOCATIONS IN FY 2019/20 AND 2020/21
AB 1216 was a County-sponsored bill authored by Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan that would have authorized the counties of Alameda and Contra Costa to establish a pilot program to employ two law enforcement officers, one from each county, solely for the purpose of enforcing dumping laws in those counties. Although AB 1216 failed to move forward, the California Budget Act of 2019 (AB 74) approved by the Governor included the following funding allocation provision: $375,000 shall be provided to each of the following counties: Alameda and Contra Costa for an Illegal Dumping Pilot Project to enforce dumping laws.
The $375,000 allocated by the State is being used to fund all six of the strategies the Board previously approved for funding. As a result of the reallocation of the funding approved in the State Budget for illegal dumping, the amount of funding the County had to dedicate towards illegal dumping strategies for the first two years decreased from $378,000 to $3,000.
Funds allocated for FY2019/20 supported work in that year and the subsequent year (FY2020/21), as COVID-19 led to a pause in most tasks.
This report and the attached Table 1 reflect how implementation of the Illegal Dumping Initiative in FY 2021/22 (Year 3) is proposed to be funded. Except for the two strategies detailed below and the long-term strategies identified as a future phase, implementation of all strategies can continue in FY2021/22 using either funds carried over from FY 2020/21 or ongoing departmental budgets.
RECOMMENDED FUNDING ALLOCATIONS IN FY 2021/22 (YEAR 3)
To ensure County departments can continue implementing Strategies # 27 and # 40 without interruption once funding allocated for Year 2 has been expended, the Illegal Dumping Think Tank team recommended that the Board’s Illegal Dumping Ad Hoc Committee make the following recommendation to the full Board of Supervisors:
Approve funding in the amount of $350,000 in FY 21/22 to help continue combating illegal dumping and allocate said funding as follows to allow continued implementation of these two approved strategies.
Strategy # 27 – Capital Improvements – Lighting: $200,000
Strategy # 40 – Derelict Boat/RV Abatement: $150,000
On February 18, 2021, the Board’s Illegal Dumping Ad Hoc Committee passed a motion to recommend that the Board approve allocation of funding in the amount of $350,000 for uninterrupted implementation of the two illegal dumping strategies that could not be implemented with existing budgets in FY 2021/22 (Year 3).
PROPOSED STRATEGY AMENDMENTS:
Staff has recommended changes to strategies #14, #22, #41, #46, #49, #50, #51, and #56. At their February meeting, the Board’s Illegal Dumping Ad Hoc Committee passed a motion recommending that the Board approve the proposed strategy amendments. Strategy amendments are explained in attached Table 1.
The funding would not be available to support continued implementation of the Capital Improvement Lighting and Derelict Boat/RV Abatement strategies in FY 2021/22 (Year 3) and strategies recommended for amendment would remain as is.