County Service Area 17 Proposition 218 Vote

Monterey County is proposing a Prop 218 vote for County Service Area  17 (Rancho Tierra Grande and Mercurio) to provide needed maintenance for roads and storm drains

At the request of the subdivider, the Board of Supervisors established CSA 17 in 1963 to provide extended services (open space maintenance and drainage system maintenance) for the Rancho Tierra Grande (RTG) No. 1 subdivision.  The subdividers of RTG No. 2, RTG No. 3, and Mercurio subdivisions were required to petition the Board of Supervisors to annex their subdivisions into CSA 17.  The CSA 17 property owners are responsible for providing the funding necessary for the County Service Area to provide the extended services.

Under California AB 8 (1979), the County auditor allocates to each County Service Area its share of the property tax revenue.  CSA17 receives approximately $19,700 annually that can be used to fund open space maintenance and storm drain maintenance including any associated County administration costs. The AB 8 funds are insufficient to provide the active services for CSA 17.

The recent $3.5M major street repaving for 4.23 miles of roads was paid for using Measure X and Transient Occupancy Tax funds.  This was not a CSA 17 project because street maintenance is not currently an active service.

Voting in favor of levying an annual assessment is a vote to provide funding necessary for CSA 17 to provide extended services (open space maintenance and drainage system maintenance) that are the responsibility of the CSA 17 property owners.  It is also a vote to provide funding necessary to add street maintenance as an active service.  This would allow for a higher level of service compared to the existing County Road Maintenance System which is severely limited due to lack of funding.  Significant services to be provided by a properly funded County Service Area follow:

Street Maintenance:  A slurry seal will be completed every 8 years for all roads. This will greatly help preserve them compared to a complete rehabilitation conducted every 40-50 years as County funding is available.

Storm Drain Maintenance:  CSA 17 has an extensive and essential storm drain system that is 50+ years old.  A 2014 repair of just one storm drain was $100,000 and completely depleted the CSA 17 AB 8 fund balance that had accrued over 50 years. With funding, CSA 17 can clean the storm drains, complete video inspections, and develop a capital improvement plan to prioritize and administer future repairs.

The CSA 17 Fiscal Year 2026-27 projected budget with a successful Prop 218:

Open Space Maintenance        $19,700.00 = estimated annual AB 8 revenue

Street Maintenance                      $64,854.34

Storm Drain Maintenance         $53,088.80

County Administration                $40,000.00

Total                                $177,643.14

 

The proposed tax assessment per CSA 17 parcel is in the general range of $640 to $720 per year. The detailed proration process and projection for each owner APN is in the Harris Engineering Report link below.

These funds will not be spent evenly each year. Any unused money will be added to the CSA 17 fund balance and carried forward for use in future years. Also, the funds are a pool, so for example in a given year, storm drains need more money than street repairs, the funds can used where they are needed most. If a large problem occurs before the fund balance has adequately built up, CSA 17 can request a loan from the County to fund the work to be completed. The Board of Supervisors may extend, by a four-fifths vote, the repayment of a loan for a period that does not exceed three years from the end of the fiscal year in which the loan was made.

Prop 218 votes are weighed based on the total annual assessment (Engineer’s Report – Appendix E) for each property that votes. A simple majority of those weighted votes is required for passage or rejection. There is no minimum number of votes (quorum) requirement.

Please  refer to the links below for very important and more detailed information: