3/25/2020 Update:
The City has proposed a 10-year term, instead of 25 or 30 years, to reduce interest costs to property owners over the life of the assessment. The post below has been updated and re-published.
In this post, CivicMic continues to share information about the City of San Leandro's proposed formation of the Neptune Drive Assessment District to fund the construction of a levee near the intersection of Neptune Drive and Marina Boulevard.
Important: Formation of the proposed assessment district must be approved by the affected property owners. The City can’t form an assessment district without property owner participation.
As posted previously, the Neptune Drive assessment would impact approximately 1,055 parcels that benefit from the construction of the levee because these parcels were recently re-designated by FEMA as being in the flood zone. The new flood zone designation has resulted in an update of the Flood Insurance Rate Maps and in most cases mortgage companies requiring property owners to pay for flood insurance.
The construction of the levee would cause FEMA to re-designate the parcels as no longer being in the flood zone resulting in another update of the Flood Insurance Rate Maps reflecting the parcels off the flood zone and mortgage companies no longer requiring flood insurance.
In summary, property owners would pay for a new assessment district charge on the property tax bill in exchange for not paying flood insurance. Comparing the Neptune Drive assessment amount to the flood insurance premium is critical in making the decision to support or not support the formation of the proposed assessment district.
Below are the parcels affected by FEMA's actions and the proposed formation of an assessment district for the Neptune Drive Shoreline Flood Protection project.
Let's take a look at the slides from NBS, the assessment district consultant, as presented at the informational meeting on July 29, 2019. Click here to watch the video and presentation for these slides. (Hint: This presentation starts at the 1:10:30 (one hour, ten minutes, thirty-seconds) mark).
As presented by NBS, the process to form the proposed assessment district includes several Council meetings with City Council taking action via Resolutions to initiate the proceedings, set the date of the public hearing and tabulation of the ballots, hold the public hearing, tabulate ballots, and confirm the assessments (if approved by the property owners).
An assessment engineer's report is being prepared to separate and quantify special vs. general benefit, calculate the portion of the project to be paid from the General Fund (representing benefit to the general public), and finally calculate the amount remaining to be charged on each property receiving special benefit from the construction of the levee.
Preliminary 30-year amortization calculations of a range for the assessment charge using lot size and building square footage as primary factors are as follows:
(3/25/2020 Update: The City has proposed a 10-year term, instead of 25 or 30 years, to reduce interest costs).
- Detached Single Family Residences - $110 to $500 per year, based on size (the majority of detached single-family residences would pay $150 per year).
- 3/25/2020 Update for the 10-year term: Detached Single Family Residences - $183 to $830 per year, based on size (the majority of detached single-family residences would pay $225 per year).
- Attached Single Family Residences - $60 to $200 per year, based on size (the majority of attached single-family residences would pay $70 per year).
- 3/25/2020 Update for the 10-year term: Attached Single Family Residences - $103 to $297 per year, based on size (the majority of attached single-family residences would pay $150 per year).
- The assessment charge for the golf course has been estimated at $11,600 per year.
- 3/25/2020 Update for the 10-year term: The assessment charge for the golf course has been estimated at $32,243 per year.
The annual assessment charge would last between 25 and 30 years depending on the term of the bonds to be issued by the City. (3/25/2020 Update: The City has proposed a 10-year term, instead of 25 or 30 years, to reduce interest costs). The charge includes repayment of the principal amount borrowed for the construction of the levee and issuance of bonds, interest, and administrative fees.
Your participation and that of your neighbors in the process is very important! Please use the “Share this:” buttons at the bottom to share this post with your neighbors.