A complicated tax transfer agreement for the Scottsville subdivision annexation in Jackson was approved by the Amador County Board of Supervisors at its meeting last week.

The agreement sets forth provisions that allow the county to retain specific portions of the subdivision's property tax and includes a provision for a county facilities fee, should the county decide to enact that fee in the future.

Located southeast of Jackson on the east side of Highway 49, the 40-acre gated senior community known as the Scottsville Jackson Senior Development is to be divided into a 106-lot community. Eighty-nine of the lots will be used for single-family residential developments, 12 will be duplexes and four will be four-plexes. One lot will be used for RV parking, and the remaining two lots will house a recreation center and parking area. The 127 residential units will be restricted to persons aged 55 and older.

According to the tax transfer agreement, the county will retain the current base amount of property tax for land within the subdivison. The county and the city will split the future tax increment with 21.5 percent allocated to the county and 11.5 percent allocated to the city.

In addition, Jackson will enact a public safety assessment for new developments to ensure adequate revenue for fire protection. To effect this assessment, the city will seek to obtain landowner approval within the annexed area to create a new public safety assessment. An initial amount of $100 per parcel has been proposed for the assessment.

Once created, that assessment is to be split between the county and city with a minimum of $30 per parcel allocated to the Amador Fire Protection District and the remainder to the city for funding fire protection costs within the incorporated area. Once the annexation is complete AFPD would then drop primary coverage of the annexed subdivision.

The city will retain the base sales tax for the subdivision and allocate 90 percent of future sales tax growth to the city and 10 percent to the county.

As for the county facilities fee, the agreement calls for the city to enact a fee of $900 per equivalent dwelling unit, to be adjusted annually in accordance with a construction cost index, to support the county's capital improvement plan for county facilities that benefit residents of both the city and county. However, the city is not required to enact this fee until the board of supervisors approve a similar fee for the unincorporated areas of the county.

At its meeting last week, County Administrative Officer Patrick Blacklock explained that the board has already adopted the fee in concept but the county needs to finish its facilities Master Plan before it can move forward with adopting it. The actual amount, whether it be $900 per equivalent dwelling unit, or less or more, will be calculated at that time. However, Blacklock noted, if the fee needs to be $1,500 (as an example) the city would only be required to assess $900. The facilities Master Plan is scheduled to be completed by early 2004.

The impact fee would be deposited into the county's Capital Improvement Reserve Fund (CIRF) to support county facilities that service both the unincorporated areas and incorporated cities throughout the county. Some facilities that would benefit from the proposed fee would be the jail, district attorney's office, probation department, elections department and public services like animal control and the county's library system.

The county uses its CIRF to fund capital improvements, such as building maintenance, renovation and construction. The board approved a 10-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) at its June 17 meeting which outlines what projects are planned within 10 years and the priority each project receives. The board reserved the right to alter the plan, however, due to an ongoing Americans with Disability Act (ADA) facility inventory that will note which county buildings are deficient in terms of disabled access.

According to the 10-year CIP, the county will have an estimated total of $16 million for major projects by the end of fiscal year 2003/04. As of now, just under $3.5 million in major projects are planned for next year, including $1.45 million for the county's new animal shelter and nearly $1.4 million for jail and sheriff department renovations. This $12.6 million surplus would be used to fund several ongoing projects in the future.

To begin the possible impact fee process, the board voted unanimously in July to authorize a request for proposals for a space needs assessment for county facilities and to approve the idea of the fee in concept. The space needs assessment would then be combined with the ADA study and a facilities security audit (to be completed by the Amador County Sheriff's Office) to form the facilities Master Plan to allow the board to make better informed decisions regarding the county's CIP.