Bass Lake A Landscape Lighting & Assessment District

Bass Lake A Landscape Lighting & Assessment District 

Historical Formation Number 16
CSD Accounting Fund Number 40
Engineer's Report Number 12
County Assessor Tax Code 64313

EDHCSD Resolution Number: 1995-20

Bass Lake A LLAD is within The Hills of El Dorado subdivision located just off Bass Lake Road in Eastern El Dorado Hills. 

Improvements include:

  • Landscaping along Bass Lake Road, the entrance, along Alyssum Circle, and Tea Rose Drive. The landscaping includes trees, shrubs, turf, natural grass, and an irrigation system – 47,769 square feet (SF).
  • Wooden rail fence with (27) brick pilasters along Bass Lake Road at the entrance of the project – 1,190 lineal feet (LF).
  • Streetlights – (18, located at the intersection in Units 1 and 2).
  • Concrete walkways along Bass Lake Road – 11,058 square feet (SF).
  • Open Space located on Lots A, B-1, and B-2 – 139,548 square feet (SF).
  • Entry sign walls and lighting at the entrance to project. The monument sign is 19’W x 15’H with plastic lettering.
  • Masonry block wall located on Bass Lake Road street side – 115 lineal feet (LF).
Bass Lake A Stantec Map Only


2021 Underfunded LLAD Engagement Quick Links:
Engagement
General LLAD History
Bass Lake A (LLAD #16) Assessment Information
Other Important Considerations - Open Space Lots
Ballot and Q&A Virtual Session Information

May 11, 2021 Q&A Virtual Session Presentation
Q&A from May 11, 2021 Virtual Session
Proposition 218 Notification of Proposed Assessment Change


BALLOT NOTIFICATION ADDRESSING INFLATIONARY FACTOR
The El Dorado Hills Community Services District (District) last engaged with owners of the Bass Lake A LLAD #16 in late 2019/early 2020 regarding the non-inflationary factor and underfunded status of your LLAD. Due to COVID, the District’s continued outreach was delayed. The District is now reengaging to notify owners of an upcoming vote by mail ballot to address the status of your LLAD. Ballots will be mailed no later than May 28, 2021.  A sample ballot can be found here.

Resolution No. 2021-09 Declaring Its Intent to Increase the Per Parcel Assessment for the Bass Lake A Landscaping and Lighting Assessment District No. 16 (05/13/2021)

Information regarding the background and details of your LLAD are outlined below.

ENGAGEMENT
The District began this process back in January 2018, hosting a meeting for the owners of El Dorado Hills who pay into District-managed Landscape and Lighting Assessment Districts (LLADs), specifically those formed without an annual inflationary factor.

In response to questions received during the January meeting, the District held individual meetings in late 2019/early 2020 with each of the four (4) LLADs without an inflationary factor and are in an underfunded status. Since those meetings, the District has updated its Cost Allocation and Asset Reserve Studies, and are re-engaging owners to finalize addressing the condition of their LLAD.

GENERAL LLAD HISTORY

An LLAD is a funding mechanism, assessed by a levy on parcels, and created to financially assist local governments, such as the District, in providing the administration, operations and maintenance of assets within a defined boundary. Between the late 1980s and mid-1990s, the District formed several LLADs to fund the improvements, operations and maintenance of assets throughout El Dorado Hills, such as irrigation and landscape areas, street lights, fencing, entry monuments, and a variety of other park and open space facilities. The assets and funds associated with the LLADs are individually tracked within the District’s budget and reported on an annual basis.

BASS LAKE A (LLAD #16) Assessment Information
Bass Lake A (“LLAD #16”) was formed in 1995 and is comprised of a number of assets and maintenance areas including:
• 47,769 square feet of landscaping along Bass Lake Road, the entrance, along Alyssum Circle, and Tea Rose Drive. The landscaping includes trees, shrubs, turf, natural grass, and an irrigation system,
• 1,190 lineal feet of wooden rail fence with 27 brick pilasters along Bass Lake Road at the entrance of the project,
• 21 street lights located at the intersections in units 1 and 2,
• 11,028 square feet of concrete walkway along Bass Lake Road,
• Entry sign and lighting at entrance to project,
• 115 lineal feet of masonry block wall located on Bass Lake Road street side,
• Tree maintenance at the west perimeter.

At the time of formation, an inflationary factor, also referred to as a Consumer Price Index (“CPI”), was not incorporated into the assessment to fund future increasing costs related to the operations and maintenance for the above referenced assets. For the past 26 years, this has resulted in a “flat” or “level” assessment (currently $99) to the parcels within Bass Lake A LLAD #16. The major factors supporting the need to include an inflationary adjustment in an LLAD assessment are related to the rising costs for materials, utilities, labor, etc. The exclusion of this inflationary factor has contributed to insufficient funding of the LLAD.

If LLAD #16 had been created with an inflationary factor, similar to other LLADs in the District, the maximum assessment would have increased from $99.00 in 1995 to $194.13 in 2020, an annual increase associated to the CPI, which ranged from 0.7% and 5% during that period of time. Based on current market costs and the condition of current assets needing replacement, the proposed maximum rate to be assessed is $226.00.

OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND CONSIDERATIONS
OPEN SPACE LOTS

Before Bass Lake A was formed it was conceptualized to have additional open space within the residential area included in the list of assets maintained. Those open space areas are identified on final maps as Lots A, B, C, and total approximately 12 acres; many of your homes backup to this open space. Up until last year, the condition of these open space lots were overgrown and in need of maintenance.

The District took a proactive approach and put safety into consideration for our owners by ordering and funding the necessary one-time maintenance of this area. There are multiple problems presented with performing ongoing maintenance without inclusion in the LLAD. First, the property is not owned by the CSD or the LLAD at this time, and secondly, the current non-CPI status of the LLAD would not provide sufficient funding to take on this additional maintenance.

Should the LLAD members choose to update the CPI status, the District is also seeking your interest in adding this open space area into the menu of assets maintained. Addition of these lots would result in a proposed maximum rate to be assessed of $286.66, a difference of $60.66 annually in comparison to not taking on the three (3) open space lots for maintenance.

Ballot and Q & A Virtual Session Information

Mail Ballot Options


The following options will be made available by mail ballot:

OPTION 1 (recommended)
Bass Lake A owners agree to the recommended assessment and inflationary increase to their current assessment to meet the operations and maintenance needs, up to the proposed maximum rate of $226.00.

OPTION 2 (alternate recommended)
Bass Lake A owners agree to the recommended assessment and inflationary increase to their current assessment to meet the operations and maintenance needs, and to add the Open Space Lots A, B, C to the assets of the LLAD, resulting in a proposed maximum rate of $286.66.

OPTION 3
Bass Lake A owners do not approve an inflationary increase. With this option, decreased operations and maintenance, and potential removal of assets will be necessary based on available budget.

OPTION 4
Owners organize a Homeowners Association (HOA) and dissolve the LLAD completely. With this dissolution, the HOA would be required to manage and provide maintenance services to the area. Should the Bass Lake A owners opt to absorb maintenance operations into a newly formed HOA, formation of a “shell LLAD” would be required to ensure that if the HOA were to fail, the District has the ability to activate the LLAD to fund maintenance operations.

Bass Lake A LLAD is one of several in this same position, where an inflationary factor was not included and funding is limited. Current regular operations and maintenance costs for LLAD #16 averages $28,000-$34,000 annually. In addition to regular annual maintenance, the District also refers to the “Browning Reserve Study”, a deferred maintenance report to identify and schedule repair and/or replacement of the assets within the LLAD.

Several scheduled repairs and/or replacement of assets have not occurred due to the present inability to increase the assessment to match the funds needed to perform that work. The current list of assets and cost for these improvements are outlined in the table below:

Reserve Component (Asset) Budget
Irrigation Parts  $3,402
Backflow Preventer  $1,399
Painting Monument  $1,887
Turf Renovation 21,750 SF (entry/walk) $4,825
Landscape - 8 Trees $6,118
Concrete Walkway $9,980
Curb Maintenance $1,346
Share Cost of Maintenance Vehicle $1,321

BLA Entry Monument   BLA Turf Renovation Needed

   BLA Curb Maintenance   BLA Curb Maintenance (2)

BLA Walkway  BLA Drain
Directing District General funds towards backfilling the “underfunded” LLADs is not an equitable way to resolve the issue, as it causes a reduction in funding used for other District-wide obligations.

The District is seeking resolution to properly address the LLADs that are insufficiently funded. To assist in this process, your participation in the upcoming vote by mail ballot is requested. Ballots will be mailed no later than May 28, 2021.

Q & A Virtual Session for Bass Lake A LLAD
May 11, 2021 at 5:30pm via Zoom
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89552501998
Call In Number 1 (669) 900-6833.

The District looks forward to working together with our owners. The outcome of your vote will help determine how the future of the LLAD will be maintained.