To: Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): County Clerk-Recorder-Assessor
Staff Name and Phone Number: Deva Proto, 707-565-1877
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement for the California County Assessors’ Information Technology Authority
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Adopt a Resolution:
A) Approving and authorizing the Chair to execute a Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement for the California County Assessors’ Information Technology Authority with participating counties; and
B) Delegating to the Sonoma County Assessor the authority to take any and all actions necessary or desirable on behalf of the County as a member agency of the Authority.
end
Executive Summary:
The County has the opportunity to enter into a Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement (“Agreement”) with other participating counties state-wide in order to form a joint powers authority for the purposes of receiving state funding through the County Assessors’ Information Technology Grant Program. The funding will be used by the California County Assessors’ Information Technology Authority (“Authority”) established pursuant to the proposed Agreement to assist county assessors, including the Sonoma County Assessor, in performing property assessments through technology investments. The California Assessors’ Association (CAA) has been advocating for State funding for shared systems and technologies for many years, and funding was secured in the FY 2022-23 State budget. To take advantage of the funding and the resulting projects, participating counties must form a joint powers authority. The joint powers mechanism provides an efficient and cost-effective way to deliver services needed in 58 California counties.
Discussion:
The California Assessors’ Association (CAA) was successful in securing funding for assessors in the State’s 2022-23 budget. The State agreed to a $10 million grant to fund statewide IT projects through the County Assessors’ Information Technology Grant Program. It is expected that the appropriation will be $10 million per year for three consecutive years, pending funding for future years.
In the past, the State has required a county match for grant funds. This year, the CAA proposed that the county “match” would be made after the projects were completed by way of future maintenance costs and the State agreed. Maintenance costs are much lower than startup costs and will spread across all participating counties.
The new projects to be funded by the State funds are intended to benefit all 58 counties and taxpayers across the State by providing a portal to file required forms by taxpayers and a way for counties to collaborate on data collection and communication. They will not impact the Sonoma Information Systems Department as the Authority will contract with outside vendors to provide shared services. The current list of projects include: Proposition 19 Portal, Exemptions E-filing, Non-Residential Sales Database, Megabyte Counties Unified Application and Database Framework, Automatic Enrollment of Certain Changes in Ownership.
As a requirement for the grant program, the Department of Finance (DOF) required that participating counties form a joint powers authority to receive the funds and contract for the services. The DOF also required that the application for funds be submitted by October 1st. The CAA could not complete the work necessary to form the joint powers authority in time to apply for the funding. As an interim step, County Assessors entered into a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding for the purposes of submitting the application for financing to the DOF. It provided an agreement to work together on these projects while proceeding with the work necessary to create a legal entity that meets DOF and statutory requirements. The joint powers authority formation must be completed by November 15th.
California County Assessors have a history of working together on projects that benefit all members and taxpayers. More than 15 years ago, Assessors entered into an agreement for shared services that created a portal for businesses to file their annual Business Property Statement. Sonoma County has participated in that project. Last year, 269 filings were completed on the portal, and our maintenance cost for the Business Property Filing system was $3,791. CAA also created an eForms portal that provides a way for taxpayers across the state to access up-to-date Board of Equalization prescribed forms for all 58 counties. In 2022, 27,583 Sonoma County specific forms were downloaded from the site. Sonoma County’s maintenance costs for eForms, was $1,659 last year. The proposed Agreement is a formal mechanism to continue our collaboration statewide. It provides an efficient and cost-effective way to deliver services needed in all 58 California Counties.
Financing:
The legal services needed to draft the Agreement were funded by the CAA. Grant funding to develop the technology programs is being provided by the State. In future years, once the programs are developed and operational, there will be ongoing maintenance costs shared by the participating counties. These costs are unknown at this time. Based on past experience with other shared services, maintenance costs have been shared on a pro-rata basis based on population and parcel count of counties that participate in the project. Sonoma County’s maintenance costs have been budgeted for annually and have cost less than the alternatives. It is likely that the earliest affected budget would be in fiscal year 2024-25, and would be included in the annual budget submitted by the Clerk-Recorder-Assessor department.
Features of the Agreement:
1. The Agreement will form an agency separate and apart from the member counties pursuant to the Joint Exercise of Powers Act.
2. There is no local funding commitment for participating counties with the exception of the shared maintenance costs for the technology programs established with the grant funds.
3. Membership will consist only of counties.
4. The purpose of the authority established by the Agreement is to receive funds through the County Assessors’ Information Technology Grant Program and contract for services to establish technology solutions for the benefit of County Assessors.
5. The governing body of the authority will be nine directors consisting of the California Assessor Association (CAA) President, CAA Treasurer, a Coordinating Assessor, and six participating assessors.
6. The Sonoma County Assessor will serve as the appointing authority for Sonoma County, including casting votes to elect the governing board of the Authority.
Strategic Plan:
N/A
Prior Board Actions:
N/A
Fiscal Summary
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FY 22-23 Adopted |
FY23-24 Projected |
FY 24-25 Projected |
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Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
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Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
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Attachments:
Joint Powers Agreement
Memorandum of Understanding for Information Technology
Resolution
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
N/A