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BACKGROUND <br />The Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972 ("the Act authorizes local agencies to <br />impose an annual assessment on real property benefiting from improvements in order <br />to pay for the construction and maintenance of lighting and landscaping improvements. <br />The assessments are collected by Alameda County as part of the annual property tax <br />bill. <br />For each lighting and landscape district, City staff follows a statutory imposed process <br />for yearly administration. City staff performs regular field inspections to ensure <br />satisfactory performance by the maintenance contractor, reviews complaints or <br />concerns of property owners, and processes progress payments to the contractor. City <br />administration also includes the following steps: <br />Prepare maintenance specifications for competitive bidding and advertise the <br />maintenance projects for bids. <br />Hold bid opening. <br />Review bids, recommend acceptance of the lowest responsible bid; review <br />maintenance costs, estimate annual costs (water, power, etc.) and prepare a <br />budget to be included in the annual Engineer's Report. <br />Prepare a staff report entitled "Review and Approval of Engineer's Report and <br />Budget, and Set Public Hearing for Annual Assessments for Lighting and <br />Landscape District (number)." <br />5. Prepare a legal notice and advertise the public hearing for annual assessments. <br />6. Prepare City Council staff report for public hearing. <br />7. Hold public hearing to confirm the Engineer's Report and levy the annual <br />assessment after closure of the public hearing. <br />Award maintenance contract to landscape maintenance company (either through a <br />City Manager's contract or a City Council approved contract depending upon the <br />contract amount). <br />9. Coordinate with the City Finance Department to send the annual assessment <br />information to the County for inclusion on the property tax bill (Alameda County <br />must receive annual assessment totals prior to August 1 each year). <br />10. Transfer City administration costs from the Assessment District Account to the <br />City's General Fund. <br />11. Transfer assessments on City owned parcels from the General Fund to <br />Assessment District accounts. <br />Page 2 of 6 <br />