COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

Department of Public Works

DATE:

June 2, 2003

BOARD MEETING DATE:

June 24, 2003

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Neil R. Cullen, Director of Public Works

SUBJECT:

Adoption of the 2003-2004 Water Pollution Control Service Charges Report for Flood Control Zone One - County Wide

Recommendation

Acting as the governing board of the San Mateo County Flood Control District, adopt a resolution setting the time and place for a public hearing on the approval of charges in the Flood Control Zone One for Fiscal Year 2003-2004 for the purpose of carrying out storm water pollution control services (9:15 a.m., Tuesday, July 15, 2003).

Previous Board Action

1.

Formed Flood Control Zone One in 1993, for the purpose of carrying out pollution control requirements of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). The boundaries of Zone One are contiguous with those of the County.

2.

Adopted as the Zone project the San Mateo County Storm Water Management Plan, 1998-2003, and authorized the City/County Association of Governments (C/CAG) to assume responsibility for the County-wide compliance with the NPDES requirements through the Plan.

3.

Adopted Ordinance No. 03662 in 1995, at the request of C/CAG that set charge rates for storm water pollution control services in Flood Control Zone One.

4.

Adopted Ordinance No. 04054 in 2001, at the request of C/CAG, which imposed additional fees for complying with storm water pollution control requirements mandated by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Key Facts

1.

The San Mateo County Flood Control Act provides that service charges may be placed upon the tax roll.

2.

C/CAG has requested that we continue the Zone One charge rates.

Discussion

The Storm Water Management Plan, 1998-2003, comprises the basis of a NPDES municipal permit issued by the State of California Regional Water Quality Control Board. C/CAG is again requesting that your Board levy charges in Zone One to finance the General Program. These rates are based on property use and the average square-foot area of properties within the use classification. The proposed charges are based on a per parcel basis and are as follows:

Parcel Description

Rate

Single Family Residential

$6.00/Parcel

Condominium Units, Vacant Land, Agriculture, Misc.

$3.00/Parcel

Commercial, Retail, Manufacturing, Industrial

$6.00/Parcel plus $0.5442/1,000 s.f. for parcels over

11,000 s.f.

The fees are imposed upon every parcel on the assessor's roll except for parcels owned by local, State and Federal governments, and public school districts. Separately taxed improvements, such as mobile homes and underground utility improvements, have also been exempted.

We anticipate that all cities except Woodside and Brisbane will have passed resolutions formally endorsing the proposed program, the charge rates and the charges to be imposed within their respective jurisdictions prior to your Board holding a public hearing on the charges. C/CAG will bill Woodside directly on the basis of the above rate structure. Brisbane has requested that the Flood Control District collect only the Basic Fees and not the Additional Fees. C/CAG will bill Brisbane directly for the additional fee component. We will report to your Board at the public hearing and verify that supporting resolutions have been received.

The purpose of the public hearing on this report is to allow your Board to hear and consider any and all objections or protests to the amount of the individual charges. After the close of the hearing your Board may adopt the charges as presented or modify any charge in the report or overrule any or all objections.

County Counsel has advised us that the NPDES charges are an on going charge with no increase and therefore are not subject to the Proposition 218 requirement of sending a separate notice to each individual property owner. Therefore we are recommending that we notice the public hearing by publishing a notice twice in a newspaper of general circulation.

Vision Alignment

We believe our recommendation is consistent with the Shared Commitment to be a “responsive, effective and collaborative government”, and Goal Number 22, “County and local governments effectively communicate, collaborate and develop strategic approaches to issues affecting the entire County,” as the C/CAG Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program enables the County and all cities to implement a coordinated Countywide program to comply with the pollution control requirements mandated by the Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Fiscal Impact

The proposed rates are estimated to generate $1,340,000 in revenue that will be used to finance the General Program and reimburse the County for the costs associated with levying the charges including the per parcel charge levied by the Controller, estimated at $0.30 per parcel based on the Controller’s rate schedule as approved by your Board. There is no impact to the General Fund.

A form of resolution setting the time and date of the public hearing has been approved by County Counsel.