Sonoma County Grand Jury • 2006-2007 • Agency Response

Grand Jury Town of Aug 2 # 2007 August 15, 2007 Town of Windsor Received*

Published: August 15, 2007 6 pages
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Findings and Recommendations 9 findings

F1 Page 5
Audit and inventories are conducted only once every four years.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Page 5
The county tax assessor should complete billboard inventories annually.
F2 Page 5
Form 571 L or a change in ownership resulting in a request for a new permit are the only ways the tax assessor has to learn there is an opportunity for reappraisal.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
Page 5
The county tax assessor should require the inclusion of a mandatory itemized listing of the billboards on form 571 L.
F3 Page 5
In 2004 the California Assessors Association recommended that when valuing a billboard, the current Caltrans method should be used.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Page 5
All information regarding billboards in the county should be available in a central location: assessors parcel number and address, property owner, location on property, billboard owner, advertising agency, permits. 31
F4 Page 5
Although billboard ownership is a matter of public record, there is no realistic way for the public to access those records.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
Page 6
County tax assessor should compare current cost value method with the Caltrans process recommended by the California Assessors Association to see which is the most beneficial to the county.
F5 Page 5
There is no easily accessed way to learn of changes in ownership
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
Page 6
The tax assessor should be the central repository for information regarding billboards.
F6 Page 5
There is little or no exchange of information between government entities regarding billboards.
Related Recommendations (1)
R6
Page 6
The legality of all billboards in the county should be examined and any illegal billboards should be removed.
F7 Page 5
No official agency monitors the content or safety of each billboard.
No recommendations for this finding
F8 Page 5
No agency is determining whether each billboard is legally situated in conformance with zoning regulations.
No recommendations for this finding
F9 Page 5
No official entity is determining whether each sign conforms to the standards of the Home Builders Association. Conclusions Billboards generate taxes for the county and for that purpose the county should know exactly where they are located and the responsible party. Illegal billboards should be removed. Building permits, assessors parcel numbers and use permits should be easily available so that permit infractions can be readily dealt with. The county is losing revenues as a result of incomplete, inaccurate and unaudited systems and processes. Commendations The grand jury commends the administration of the Town of Windsor for the accuracy of their records regarding billboards and their cooperation in presenting the information.
No recommendations for this finding

Conclusions 1

Commendations 1

No Responses Found 2

Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.

Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District Special District
Windsor Town

* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.