San Luis Obispo County Grand Jury • 2013-2014 • Agency Response
Response to: DeveloperFeesFINAL

Tary Cayucos Elementary School District*

Published: August 13, 2014 4 pages
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Note: Missing finding numbers detected: F3

Findings and Recommendations 4 findings

F1
Code section 17623 as they are operating without a fee splitting agreement since it expired in 2010. The Board disagrees with this finding. Although Cayucos Elementary and Coast Unified do not currently have a fee splitting agreement. Education Code section 17623 does not limit the amount of time districts may take to negotiate a new fee splitting agreement after an old agreement has expired. Cayucos Elementary is in compliance with Section 17623 because of its ongoing efforts to negotiate a fee splitting agreement. Pursuant to Section 17623(b), Cayucos Elementary will submit to arbitration if it determines that it cannot reach an agreement with Coast Unified regarding fee splitting. The fees for development projects in Cayucos might need to be paid to two separate
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Cayucos Elementary and Coast Unified school districts should cooperate and must negotiate a new developer fees splitting contract. This recommendation has been implemented by Cayucos Elementary. Cayucos Elementary understands and appreciates the importance of its obligation under state law to enter into a development fee splitting agreement with Coast Unified. Pursuant to Education Code section 17623, Cayucos Elementary is doing everything in its power to cooperate with Coast Unified to negotiate a new fee splitting agreement. If it becomes clear that these negotiations will not result in a new fee splitting agreement, Cayucos Elementary will consider arbitration pursuant to Education Code section 17623(b).
F2
locations since Cayucos Elementary and Coast Unified cannot agree on having the fees collected at a single site. The Board disagrees with this finding. The County Superintendent has offered to collect the fees at the County Office of Education. Cayucos Elementary intends to finalize this arrangement with Coast Unified and the County Office of Education in the near future. Neither Cayucos Elementary nor Coast Unified have verified their compliance with
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
Cayucos Elementary and Coast Unified school districts should work together, along with the County Superintendent of Schools, to agree on one location for the collection of the fees, so as to not create the need for a developer to travel to two places to pay the respective portion of the fee. This recommendation has not yet been implemented, but will be implemented in the future. The County Superintendent has offered to collect the development fees at the County Office of Education. Cayucos Elementary intends to finalize this arrangement with Coast Unified and the County Office of Education in the near future.
F4
Government Code section 66001(d) that mandates five-year audits of the developer fee programs. The Board partially disagrees with this finding. During the Grand Jury's review, staff provided all pertinent information available regarding Cayucos Elementary's imposition of development fees. Nevertheless, Cayucos Elementary values the Grand Jury's analysis and will ensure compliance with Section 66001(d). Despite the intent within the justification studies to demonstrate student enrollment
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
Cayucos Elementary and Coast Unified school districts must complete the five- year audits required under the code. This recommendation has not yet been implemented, but will be implemented in the future. Cayucos Elementary appreciates the importance of the precise accounting of all monies collected through development fees. During the next several months, Cayucos Elementary will review its compliance with Government Code section 66001. Cayucos Elementary will review its collection of development fees and initiate any required audit. Furthermore, to ensure the greatest possible level of transparency and financial accountability, Cayucos Elementary will consider annually conducting Section 66001 audits during the district's yearly review of its finances.
F5
growth, the increased enrollment projected by both districts has not been realized as Cayucos Elementary and Coast Unified school districts have both experienced stagnant or declining enrollment and under capacity of maximum enrollment. The Board partially disagrees with this finding. Although enrollment growth at Cayucos Elementary has not met some prior projections, many districts throughout the state have experienced enrollment patterns similar to Cayucos Elementary. Furthermore, even with current and expected student enrollment, the development fees justified by the prior projections only pay for a small portion of the increased district costs associated with new construction. Therefore, fees collected by Cayucos Elementary continue to be justified by the prior projections. RESPONSE TO GRAND JURY'S RECOMMENDATIONS
No recommendations for this finding

Conclusions 1

* 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.