Los Angeles Municipal Code Art. 1 Procedures for the Establishment of Community Taxing Districts

Section 6.700 Power of the Council. 6.701 Title. 6.702 Definitions. 6.703 Establishment of a Community Taxing District to Finance Certain Services. 6.704 Other Financing Powers of a Community Taxing District. 6.705 Transfer of Funds; Use of Money; Interest. 6.706 Advances of Funds or Work In-kind; Acceptance by Legislative Body; Use; Repayment; Agreement; Conditions. 6.707 Liberal Construction of Article; Error; Irregularity, Neglect or Omission. 6.708 Failure to Receive Notice, Resolution, Order, or Other Matter Not Affecting Proceedings. 6.709 Special Tax – Property Acquired by Public Entity Through Negotiated Transaction or by Gift or Devise – Voluntary Application of Special Tax.

Possessory Interest by Exempt Entity to Nonexempt Person or Entity and Related Lease Provisions.

The Council, exercising the powers reserved to the City under the Constitution of the State of California, and its power under the provisions of the City Charter may establish Community Taxing Districts (“Districts”) to finance certain public and private capital facilities and certain services, and may further determine that bonds, notes, certificates or other evidences of indebtedness shall be issued and secured by the special taxes levied in these Districts.

SECTION HISTORY

Added by Ord. No. 177,051, Eff. 11-20-05.

This Chapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Special Tax Improvements Ordinance of the City of Los Angeles.”

SECTION HISTORY

Added by Ord. No. 177,051, Eff. 11-20-05. Amended by: Ord. No. 177,974, Eff. 12-3-06.

Unless the context otherwise requires, the definitions contained in this section shall govern the construction of this Chapter.

A. “Community Taxing District” or “District” means a district established pursuant to this Chapter for the purpose of financing capital facilities and/or services.

B. “Cost” means the expense of constructing or purchasing the facility and of related land, rights-of-way, easements, including incidental expenses, and the cost of providing authorized services, including incidental expenses.

C. “Debt” means any binding obligation to pay or repay a sum of money, including obligations in the form of bonds, certificates of participation, long-term leases, loans from government agencies, or loans from banks, other financial institutions, private businesses or individuals. This Debt may or may not constitute indebtedness for purposes of Section 18 of Article 16 of the California Constitution.

D. “Incidental expense” includes all of the following:

1. The cost of planning and designing capital facilities to be financed pursuant to this Chapter, including the cost of

environmental evaluations of those facilities;

2. The costs associated with the creation of the District, issuance of debt, determination of the amount of taxes, collection of

taxes, payment of taxes, or costs otherwise incurred in order to carry out the authorized purposes of the District;

3. Any other expenses incidental to the management, administration, completion, and inspection of the construction and/or

acquisition of the capital facilities.

E. “Landowner” or “owner” or “owner of land” means any person shown as the owner of land on the last equalized assessment roll or otherwise known to be the owner of the land by the City Engineer. Notwithstanding the foregoing, “landowner” or “owner” or “owner of land” means, with respect to any land that is the subject of condemnation action, the person entitled to possession of the land. The Council has no obligation to obtain other information as to the ownership of the land, and its determination of ownership shall be final and conclusive for the purposes of this Chapter. The City or any other public agency is not a landowner or owner of land for purposes of this Chapter unless the land owned by the City or any public agency or any leasehold therein would be subject to a special tax levied pursuant to this Chapter as provided in Sections 6.709 or 6.710.

F. “Legislative body” means the legislative body or governing board of any local agency, and with respect to the City shall mean

the Council.

G. “Local agency” means any city or county, whether general law or chartered, special district, redevelopment agency, school district, joint powers entity created pursuant to State law or any other municipal corporation, district, or political subdivision of the State.

H. “Rate” means a single rate of tax or a schedule of rates.

SECTION HISTORY

Added by Ord. No. 177,051, Eff. 11-20-05. Amended by: Subsecs. D.1. and E., Ord. No. 177,974, Eff. 12-3-06; Subsec. E., Ord. No. 181,595, Eff. 4-10-11.

A Community Taxing District may be established under this Chapter to finance any one or more municipal services within an area including, but not limited to, the following:

A. Police protection services, including, but not limited to, criminal justice services. Criminal justice services shall not be limited to providing services for jails, detention facilities, and juvenile halls;

B. Fire protection and suppression services, and ambulance and paramedic services;

C. Recreation program services, library services, and the operation and maintenance of parks, parkways, open space, and museums and cultural facilities;

D. Flood and storm protection services, including, but not limited to, the operation and maintenance of storm drainage systems;

E. Maintenance of sanitary sewer system facilities and storm drainage facilities of the City including, but not limited to, sanitary sewer mains, laterals, maintenance holes, pump stations and appurtenances of the City to convey, treat and dispose of sewage, and all storm drainage lines, mains, inlets, channels and all appurtenances of the system of the City designed to convey storm waters by cleaning, repairing and removal of debris, rubbish and other solid waste;

F. Any other municipal services which the City is authorized by law to provide.

For purposes of this Article, municipal services that may be financed include the performance by employees of functions, operations, maintenance and repair activities.

SECTION HISTORY

Added by Ord. No. 177,051, Eff. 11-20-05.

A Community Taxing District may also finance the purchase, construction, expansion, improvement or rehabilitation of any real or other tangible property with an estimated useful life of three years or longer, whether the real or tangible property is publicly or privately held, or may finance planning and design work directly related to the purchase, construction, expansion or rehabilitation of any real or tangible property, whether real or tangible property is publicly or privately held. The facilities need not be physically located within the District. A District may finance the purchase of facilities whose construction has been completed before or after the adoption of the ordinance of formation if the facility is inspected by the City and found to be in compliance with applicable building codes and standards. A Community Taxing District may finance facilities, including, but not limited to, the following:

A. Local park, recreation, parkway and open-space facilities;

B. Public parking facilities, including parking structures and surface parking lots;

C. Libraries, community centers, recreational facilities and child-care facilities;

D. The construction or undergrounding of natural gas pipeline facilities, telephone lines, facilities for the transmission or
distribution of electrical energy, and cable television lines. The District may enter into an agreement with a public utility to utilize
those facilities to provide a particular service and for the conveyance of those facilities to the public utility. Any reimbursement by the
public utility made to the District shall be utilized to reduce or minimize the special tax levied within the District or improvement area,
or to construct or acquire additional facilities within the District or improvement area, as specified in the ordinance of formation;

E. The purchase, construction, expansion, improvement, equipping, and/or rehabilitation of any structure, or any portion of any
structure, whether publicly or privately owned, which is occupied or intended or designed for occupancy by transients for dwelling,
lodging or sleeping purposes, and includes any hotel, inn, tourist home or house, motel, studio, bachelor hotel, lodging house, rooming
house, apartment house, dormitory, public or private club, or other similar structure or portion of the structure, which shall further
include any trailer court, camp, park or lot where trailer spaces, or combinations of such spaces and trailers, including mobile homes,
are occupied or intended or designed for occupancy by transients for dwelling, lodging or sleeping purposes;

F. Pay in full all amounts necessary to eliminate any fixed special assessment liens or to repay or decease any indebtedness secured
by any tax, fee, charge or assessment levied within the area of a Community Taxing District or may pay debt service on that
indebtedness;

G. Improvements to or rehabilitation of real property related to fire suppression and/or asbestos removal;

H. Any other facilities, public or private, which the City is authorized by law to contribute revenue to, or construct, own or operate.

SECTION HISTORY

Added by Ord. No. 177,051, Eff. 11-20-05.

The Council may from time to time transfer monies to a Community Taxing District or a portion or zone within a District if created in the ordinance of formation for the benefit of the district or zone, from any funds available to the City. The Council also may appropriate any of the City’s available moneys to a revolving fund to be used for the acquisition of real or personal property, engineering or other services, or the construction of structures or improvements needed in whole or in part to provide one or more of the facilities or services of a Community Taxing District. The District may reimburse the City for any amount transferred or appropriated pursuant to this Section 6.705, together with interest at the rate per annum, as determined by the Council.

SECTION HISTORY

Added by Ord. No. 177,051, Eff. 11-20-05.

A. At any time either before or after the formation of a Community Taxing District, the Council may accept advances of funds or work in- kind from any source, including, but not limited to, private persons or private entities, and may provide for the use of those funds or that work in-kind for any authorized purpose, including, but not limited to, paying any cost incurred by the City in creating a Community Taxing District. The Council may enter into an agreement with the person or entity advancing the funds or work in-kind to repay all or a portion of the funds advanced, or to reimburse the person or entity for the value, or cost whichever is less, of the work in-kind, as determined by the Council, with or without interest, under all of the following conditions:

1. The proposal to repay the funds or the value or cost of the work in-kind, whichever is less, is included in the resolution of intention or the ordinance of formation to establish the District, or in the resolution of consideration to alter the types of facilities and services provided within an established District;

   2. Any proposed special tax or change in special tax is approved by the qualified electors of the District pursuant to this Chapter.

   Any agreement may specify that if the qualified electors of the District do not approve the proposed special tax or change in a special tax, the local agency shall return any funds that have not been committed for any authorized purpose by the time of the election to the person or entity advancing the funds;

   3. Any work in-kind accepted pursuant to this section shall have been found to be performed or constructed in compliance with

   applicable City building codes and standards.

B. No agreement shall pursuant to this Section constitute a debt or liability of the City.

SECTION HISTORY

Added by Ord. No. 177,051, Eff. 11-20-05.

This Chapter shall be liberally construed in order to effectuate its purposes. No error, irregularity, informality, neglect or omission of any officer, in any procedure taken under this Chapter which does not directly affect the jurisdiction of the Council to order the installation, purchase, construction, expansion, improvement or rehabilitation of the facility or the provision of service, or the levy of the special taxes, shall void or invalidate the proceeding or any levy for the costs of a facility or service.

SECTION HISTORY

Added by Ord. No. 177,051, Eff. 11-20-05.

The failure of any person to receive a notice, resolution, order or other matter shall not affect in any way whatsoever the validity of any proceedings taken under this Chapter, or prevent the legislative body from proceeding with any hearing so noticed.

SECTION HISTORY

Added by Ord. No. 177,051, Eff. 11-20-05.

If property not otherwise exempt from a special tax levied pursuant to this Chapter is acquired by a public entity through a negotiated transaction, or by gift or devise, the special tax shall, notwithstanding Section 6.748, continue to be levied on the property acquired and shall be enforceable against the public entity that acquired the property.

Any public agency other than a city, county or school district may subject property owned by it to the levy of special taxes, if it certifies to the Council: (a) its agreement to do so, (b) that it intends to dispose of the property by transfer to a nongovernmental agency at some time in the future, and (c) that it agrees to cooperate in the sale of the property if necessary to obtain funds to pay any special taxes levied upon the property.

SECTION HISTORY

Added by Ord. No. 177,051, Eff. 11-20-05.

Sec. 6.710. Special Tax – Special Assessment on Property Acquired by Public Entity Through Eminent Domain; Lease or Possessory Interest by Exempt Entity to Nonexempt Person or Entity and Related Lease Provisions.

If property subject to a special tax levied pursuant to this Chapter is acquired by the City or any public entity through eminent domain proceedings, the obligation to pay the special tax shall be treated, pursuant to Section 1265.250 of the California Code of Civil Procedure, as if it were a special annual assessment. For this purpose, the present value of the obligation to pay a special tax to pay the principal and interest on any debt incurred by the District prior to the date of apportionment determined pursuant to California Revenue and Taxation Code Section 5082 shall be treated the same as a fixed lien special assessment.

If the City or a local agency owning property, which is exempt from a special tax pursuant to Subsection E. of Section 6.702, grants a leasehold or other possessory interest in the property of a nonexempt person or entity, the special tax shall, notwithstanding Subsection E., be levied on the leasehold or other possessory interest and shall be payable by the owner of the leasehold or possessory interest. When entering into a lease or other written contract creating a possessory interest that may be subject to taxation pursuant to this Section 6.710, and the special tax would be collected by the Los Angeles County Assessor, the City or local agency shall include, or cause to be included, in the contract a statement that the property interest may subject to special taxation pursuant to this chapter, and that the party in whom the possessory interest is vested may be subject to the payment of special taxes levied on the interest. Failure to comply with the requirements of this section shall not, however, invalidate the contract.

SECTION HISTORY

Added by Ord. No. 177,051, Eff. 11-20-05. Amended by: Title amended and second para. added, Ord. No. 177,974, Eff. 12-3-06; Second para., Ord. No. 179,539, Eff. 3-2-08.

A. The Council may enter into a joint community facilities agreement with any other local agency pursuant to this Chapter or into a joint exercise of powers agreement pursuant to state law exercise any power authorized by this Chapter if the Council adopts a resolution declaring that the joint powers agreement would be beneficial to the residents of the City or the District.

B. Notwithstanding Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 6500) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the California Government Code, a contracting party may use the proceeds of any special tax or charge levied or of any Debt issued pursuant to this Chapter to provide facilities or services, which that contracting party is otherwise authorized by law to provide, even though another contracting party does not have the power to provide those facilities or services.

C. The agreement entered into pursuant to this Section 6.711 may provide for the division of responsibility to provide any of the facilities or services among the entities entering into the agreement. The agreement may provide for the allocation and distribution of the proceeds of any special tax levy among the parties to the agreement.

SECTION HISTORY

Added by Ord. No. 177,051, Eff. 11-20-05.