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9. Coordinate with the City's Finance Department and City Clerk to send the annual assessment information to the County Assessor for inclusion on the subject parcels' property tax bill (Alameda County must receive annual assessment totals prior to August 1 each year) 10.Transfer City administration costs from the Assessment District account to the City's General Fund 11.Transfer assessments on City-owned parcels from the General Fund to Assessment District accounts 12.Answer residents' questions and address residents' concerns year-round and hold neighborhood meetings upon request Effects of Proposition 218 Proposition 218, commonly referred to as the "Right to Vote on Taxes Act," was passed by California voters in November 1996. The Proposition amends the State's Constitution by adding Articles XIII(C) and XIII(D) to do the following: • Limit the authority of local governments (including cities, counties, special districts and school districts) to impose taxes and property-related assessments, fees, and charges; and • Establish procedures for implementing annual assessments which include benefit assessments, special assessments, maintenance assessments, etc. for landscaping and lighting maintenance districts. Procedures will include a requirement that the City develop an engineering report which identifies the special benefits that will accrue to each property as a result of the assessment. Further, subject to certain exceptions, it establishes that the majority of the property owners in the assessment district must vote in favor of any proposed increase in an assessment for it to be implemented. If an assessment district was formed prior to the passage of Proposition 218 and pursuant to a petition signed by the property owner(s) of all the parcels subject to the assessment, the district is exempt from the requirement that a majority of the property owners must vote each year in favor of the assessment. In Pleasanton, all the existing Landscape Maintenance Districts were formed pursuant to such a petition prior to the passage of Proposition 218. Assessments for the districts must comply with the proposition's requirement that only special benefits, not general benefits, may be assessed when evaluating Lighting and Landscape Maintenance Districts. The definition of a special benefit is "a particular and distinct benefit over and above general benefits conferred on real property located in the district or to the public at large." General enhancement of property value does not constitute a "special benefit." To the extent an assessment provides both general benefits and special benefits, the City must separate the general benefits from the special benefits and the City is to pay for the general benefits out of another revenue source, typically the City's General Fund. Since the passage of Proposition 218, the City has evaluated this distinction between special and general benefits and determined that Page 3 of 9