Are Your Maintenance Assessment Districts at Risk?

Under Proposition 218, your assessment engineer is responsible for making a number of findings as part of the engineer's report. This includes:

• identifying which parcels will receive a special benefit from the improvements or services to be funded by the assessment,
• determining the proportionality of the special benefit amongst the parcels and
• making certain the assessment levied upon a parcel is not greater than the costs of the special benefit received.

Five questions you should ask your assessment engineer:

1. Have you clearly separated special and general benefit and quantified the two types of benefit?
2. Does your assessment methodology calculate the assessment for each parcel such that it is proportional to the special benefit received by the parcel?
3. If there are benefit zones, have you clearly documented the differences in the special benefit received by parcels in each of the different benefit zones?
4. Have you assessed every parcel that receives a special benefit from the improvements or services being funded?
5. How do these rulings apply to my existing assessment districts?

Download this important whitepaper from Harris & Associates' public finance team to help determine if your maintenance assessment districts are in compliance with Proposition 218.