Title
Public Hearing to Consider the Collecting of the Water Quality and Flood Protection Fees on the Property Tax Bills; and
Adoption of Resolution Finding [No] Majority Protest and Approving the Continuation and Collection of the Existing 2019 Water Quality and Flood Protection Fee on the Property Tax Bills for Fiscal Year 2021-22. (Public Works 264)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City of Alameda's (City) 2019 Water Quality and Flood Protection Fee (Fee) establishes that the City Council shall, annually, determine any adjustments to the Fee and approve to have the Fee collected on the annual property tax bills. In addition to determining any adjustments to the Fee, a publicly-noticed hearing must be held each year before the City can use this Fee collection method. Property owners subject to this method of collection have a right to file a written protest, whereby a majority protest can block this method of collection. This hearing and the right to protest does not apply to the Fee itself; this process only applies to the method of collecting the Fee. If a majority protest is formed, the City would still be able to determine any adjustments to and collect the Fee, but it would need to be done through an alternative method such as direct billing.
BACKGROUND
The City has had a stormwater fee (the Urban Runoff Fee) since the early 1990s, prompted by the onset of federal stormwater regulations directed at municipal separate storm/sewer system operations. Recent assessments however showed that the stormwater fund (Fund 351) was running at a $1 million annual deficit. The need for additional revenue for the stormwater fund was becoming more critical each year, as identified in three recent biennial fiscal year (FY) budgets (FY 2015-17, FY 2017-19, and FY 2019-21).
On July 16, 2019, the City Council initiated a Proposition 218 process to establish a new Water Quality and Flood Protection Fee to augment the ...
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