TITLE:
title
APPROVE CERTIFICATION OF SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS FOR THE COLLECTION OF DELINQUENT CIVIL CITATIONS FOR MUNICIPAL CODE VIOLATIONS
end
DEPARTMENT: FINANCE DEPARTMENT
PRESENTED BY: CAROL MOLINA, FINANCE DIRECTOR
CONTACT INFORMATION: CAROL MOLINA, FINANCE DIRECTOR, (714) 754-5243
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
Staff recommends the City Council:
1. Conduct a Public Hearing.
2. Adopt the attached resolution approving the certification of special assessments for delinquent civil fines for municipal code violations in relation to unlicensed illicit cannabis and other municipal code violations.
end
BACKGROUND:
Since the legalization of recreational use of cannabis in 2016 under Proposition 64, illegal cannabis operations (dispensaries) have proliferated throughout the State. The participants in these operations, including property owners and employees, have conducted business in cities without regard to local ordinances, state permits and state building and fire codes. Specifically, these dispensaries have disregarded the ordinances regulating cannabis uses enacted by the voters of the City (Measures X and Q) and the City Council - all to the detriment of the general public, as well as the legal and City-permitted cannabis businesses currently or soon to be operating in the City.
The City has attempted to curb illegal and unlicensed cannabis operations that have been operating throughout the City, as well as other municipal code violations by issuing citations for these violations, which include operating without a business license, lack of required building permits, and operating an unlicensed cannabis dispensary.
All commercial, residential, public assembly, and other buildings within a governmental jurisdiction are required to be constructed in accordance with the jurisdiction’s municipal code provisions. Permitting regulates construction and property use to ensure safe, healthy, efficient, and accessible environments for human occupancy and habitation. Building permit violations can jeopardize public health and safety; and these citations hold violators accountable for unpermitted and illegal activity.
As part of the City’s targeted enforcement, citations have been issued to property owners, business operators, and employees. All parties who were issued citations had 30 days to pay fines before being considered delinquent. Delinquent citations are then forwarded to the Finance Department for collection.
Pursuant to State law, certain delinquent fines, interest, and penalties may be collected as part of nuisance abatement procedures authorized by Government Code Section 38773.5. This allows the City to place delinquent citations on the County’s property tax roll as a special tax for collection purposes.
ANALYSIS:
Government Code Section 38773.5 authorizes municipalities’ legislative bodies to adopt an ordinance to establish a procedure for the abatement of a nuisance and make the cost of abatement of a nuisance upon a parcel of land a special assessment against that parcel. The assessments are limited to property related violations. The City’s procedures pursuant to Section 38773.5 are set forth in Costa Mesa Municipal Code (CMMC) Section 1-48, Collection of Unpaid Fines.
Staff has made repeated attempts without success to collect the Civil Citation fines due from the property owners and affiliated parties listed in Attachment 2. There are a total of 76 delinquent civil citations that are recommended to be assessed against 44 properties. The total delinquent amount is $120,200.
Persons cited were notified in writing at the time of citation issuance of their right to a hearing pursuant to CMMC Sections 1-45 through 1-47. In addition, each property owner recently was mailed a formal letter, via certified mail on July 7, 2022, of the proposed special assessment against their property for the delinquent civil citations and the date and time of the public hearing. Further, the letter included information that their right to an administrative hearing and judicial review of the citation issued against them has now expired.
The purpose of the public hearing is to consider a resolution to certify the special assessments and authorize recording such assessments against the respective properties as liens. This action will also authorize the Tax Collector for the County of Orange to place the assessments on the tax roll and proceed to collect the assessments as property tax liens against their properties. Should the assessments be added to the tax roll as liens, penalties and interest will continue to accrue until paid at the maximum rate as allowed by State law.
Pursuant to Government Code Section 38773.5(c), at the time of imposition of the assessment, a notice will be given to the property owner notifying them the property may be sold after three years by the County tax collector for unpaid delinquent assessments.
Property owners identified in Attachment 2, may appear before City Council at the public hearing and contest the amount and/or validity of any lien or assessment for a civil fine.
However, pursuant to CMMC 1-48(4), such contests shall be limited to the issue of the amount and/or validity of the lien or assessment (whether the civil citation can legally be added to the tax roll as a special assessment) and may not consider whether the underlying Code violation occurred.
Finally, a legal notice advertising the public hearing, which is required pursuant to Government Code Section 38773.1(b), was published in the Daily Pilot on July 8, 2022.
ALTERNATIVES:
City Council may choose to reject the resolution and direct staff to proceed to collect delinquent civil citations through a collection agency, which historically has a low collection rate, therefore, limiting the effectiveness of compliance enforcement through citations. Adding the Civil Citation fines to Special Assessment liens provides an additional mechanism to assist Code Enforcement Officers in their effort to ensure compliance with the CMMC as it pertains to illegal and unlicensed cannabis and other business operators.
FISCAL REVIEW:
By certifying the Special Assessments to the Orange County Assessor for inclusion on the Property Tax Roll, the City has a greater likelihood to collect delinquent fines and curb the illegal and unlicensed cannabis or other operations and other municipal code violations within City limits. The County charges 0.30 percent (0.30%) of the original value for each special tax, fee, or assessment that is to be collected on the County tax rolls. The citations currently total $120,200.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney’s Office has reviewed this report and has approved it as to form.
CITY COUNCIL GOALS AND PRIORITIES:
This item is administrative in nature.
CONCLUSION:
Staff recommends the City Council:
1. Conduct a Public Hearing.
2. Adopt the attached resolution approving the certification of special assessments for delinquent civil fines for municipal code violations in relation to unlicensed illicit cannabis and other municipal code violations.