Chapter 17.56 — REIMBURSEMENT DISTRICTS

Whenever a public street and/or drainage channel has been proposed for improvement and the costs thereof are immediately payable by only a portion of the owners of real property which directly and specially benefits from such public improvements, the City Engineer may, upon the application of one or more of the property owners currently paying the costs of such improvements, initiate proceedings to determine the estimated cost of such improvements, the boundary of the area of all property directly and specially benefiting from such public improvements, and the allocation of the estimated costs to the various parcels based upon the direct and special benefit received by such parcels.

Following completion of the above determinations, the City Engineer shall file a report with the City Council, which report shall contain his estimates of the cost of such improvements, the boundary area as described above. The City Council shall thereafter set a public hearing for the purpose of considering the establishment of a reimbursement district pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.

Following the City Council action to set a public hearing, the City Clerk shall mail notices to the owners of all property located within the boundaries of the proposed reimbursement district. Such notices shall be mailed not less than ten days prior to the date set for the City Council hearing. Such notice shall contain the following.

(a)

The date, time and place of the City Council hearing.

(b)

State there is on file in the office of the City Engineer, a map of the boundaries of the proposed reimbursement district, which is available for review.

(c)

A description of the improvements which are proposed to be subject to reimbursement.

(d)

The proposed reimbursement charge to be levied against the owner.

The City Council shall hold a public hearing to consider the formation of the reimbursement district. At such hearing, the City Council shall consider all evidence and testimony regarding the reasonableness of the costs for the public improvements, the boundaries of the proposed reimbursement district, and the allocation of the reimbursement costs among the properties benefited.

Any interested person, including owners of property proposed to be included within the reimbursement district, may appear at the public hearing and be heard on any or all of the issued specified in the preceding paragraph.

Upon closing the public hearing, the City Council may deny, modify and approve, or approve the recommendations of the City Engineer pertaining to the eligibility of the improvement costs for reimbursement, the boundaries of the reimbursement district and the allocation of the reimbursement costs. Should the City Council either approve or modify and approve the City Engineer's recommendations, the City Council shall adopt a resolution establishing a reimbursement district. This resolution shall include:

(a)

A description of the public improvements, the costs of which are subject to reimbursement.

(b)

Reference to a map or plan on file in the Office of the City Engineer showing the approximate location of the improvements and the boundaries of the reimbursement district.

(c)

A complete list of all properties within the reimbursement district containing for each parcel:

(1)

The name and address of each owner of record as shown on the latest equalized assessment roll;

(2)

The assessor's parcel number; and

(3)

The reimbursement cost allocated to the parcel.

The City Clerk shall cause a copy of this ordinance to be recorded in the Office of the County Recorder.

Once the allocation of the reimbursement cost has been approved by the approval of such a resolution, the resolution shall constitute a statement of the reimbursement charges due from the owners of the various parcels of property as their share of the costs of the public street and/or drainage channel improvements.

Following completion of the construction of the improvements, the owner or owners initially financing the cost of such construction shall submit invoices to the City Engineer representing the costs of construction. All such invoices must be submitted to the City Engineer no later than 60 calendar days following acceptance of the improvements by the City. Costs represented by invoices received beyond this period of time shall not be eligible for reimbursement.

Following the receipt of such invoices, the City Engineer shall review the invoices and shall determine whether or not the costs represented thereby are reasonable and customary costs of the work performed. If, in the opinion of the City Engineer, the costs represented by the invoices are higher than that which are customary and reasonable for such improvements, the City Engineer may deny reimbursement for that portion of such costs deemed to be excessive.

In the event that the total amount of the actual costs incurred by the owners in the construction of the improvements exceeds the estimated costs, the owners shall not be entitled to reimbursement for such excess cost. The reimbursement charges shall be reduced for each property owner on a pro-rata basis.

If during the 15-year period following the formation of the reimbursement district, any person either files a final subdivision map or a parcel map for property included within an established reimbursement district, and the reimbursement charge for such property has not previously been paid, the reimbursement charge plus interest thereon shall be paid prior to the approval of the final map or parcel map. If, during the 15-year period following the formation of a reimbursement district, any person files an application for a building permit on a lot located within such reimbursement district, and the reimbursement charge for such lot has not previously been paid, the reimbursement charge plus interest thereon shall be paid in accordance with such terms and conditions as the City Council may establish in the resolution establishing the reimbursement district.

Any reimbursement charge established hereunder shall accrue interest from the date of adoption of the resolution establishing the reimbursement district at the percentage rate compounded annually equal to the City's average return on investments since the date of establishment of the reimbursement district.

Recordation of the resolution establishing the reimbursement district shall create a lien on each benefitted property. The lien will be for the principal amount of the reimbursement charge, plus interest. The lien will become due and payable upon the sale of any affected lot, unless the reimbursement charge for such lot has been previously paid to the City.

All monies collected under the provisions of this chapter shall be deposited by the Treasurer of the City into a public street and drainage channel improvement trust fund. The Treasurer shall refund to the person or persons who initially paid for the construction of such improvements for which the reimbursement charges were collected, or of their assignees, within 60 days of collection of all monies so collected. The Treasurer may, however, retain five percent of all such monies to defray the expenses incurred in administering the trust fund.