In 1979 the City established Lighting Maintenance District No. 1 (LMD No. 1) through the State’s Landscape and Lighting Act of 1972. This Act identifies the process required to levy and collect assessments to meet the needs of the LMD No. 1. On May 10, 2022, the City Council set a public hearing date of June 14, 2022, to begin the process of placing liens on property tax bills for properties within LMD No. 1.
The California Streets and Highway Code provides that a report shall be prepared for each fiscal year (FY) for which assessments are to be levied and collected to pay the costs of the improvements described in the report. Upon approval, the City Council is required to set a public hearing on the proposed assessments. On May 10, 2022, the City Council approved Resolutions No. 2022-86, No. 2022-87 and No. 2022-88, which ordered the Engineer’s report, approved the report and set the public hearing for June 14, 2022.
All areas within LMD No. 1 were formed prior to the passage of Proposition 218. Proposition 218 requires modification of assessment rates or methodologies to be brought to the voters. As a result, the maximum allowable tax per parcel has not changed since the 1996-97 tax year. The approved Engineer’s report sets the LMD No. 1 assessment for FY 2022/23 between $11.05 and $125.15 for a single family residential parcel.
There are two resolutions for this item. The first resolution would authorize staff to request that Placer County attach property tax liens ordering the levy and collection of assessments for LMD No. 1 and confirm a diagram and assessment. The second resolution is required by Placer County to levy and collect assessments and place liens on the 2022/23 tax roll on the City’s behalf. It also indemnifies the County for any errors in those tax rolls submitted by the City.
Adoption of these two resolutions allows the City to impose property tax assessments on parcels to address the needs of LMD 1.