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Extracted from Consolidated Report

This investigation was originally published as part of a larger consolidated report containing multiple investigations. View the consolidated PDF for the complete document.

Sonoma County Grand Jury • 2006-2007

Signs of the Times*

Published: June 26, 2007 5 pages

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⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.

⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.

Findings 9 findings

Audit and inventories are conducted only once every four years.

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.

In 2004 the California Assessors Association recommended that when valuing a billboard, the current Caltrans method should be used.

Although billboard ownership is a matter of public record, there is no realistic way for the public to access those records.

There is no easily accessed way to learn of changes in ownership

There is little or no exchange of information between government entities regarding billboards.

No official agency monitors the content or safety of each billboard.

No agency is determining whether each billboard is legally situated in conformance with zoning regulations.

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.

Recommendations 6

R1

The county tax assessor should complete billboard inventories annually.
R2

The county tax assessor should require the inclusion of a mandatory itemized listing of the billboards on form 571 L.
R3

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.
R4

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.
R5

The tax assessor should be the central repository for information regarding billboards.
R6

The legality of all billboards in the county should be examined and any illegal billboards should be removed. Required responses to Recommendations Sonoma County Tax Assessor: R1, R2, R3, R4, R5 County of Sonoma, Permit and Resource Management Department: R6 Permit departments of the cities of Cloverdale, Cotati, Healdsburg, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Sonoma and the town of Windsor: R6 17

Conclusions 1

CL1 Page 4

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 1

CM1 Page 4

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 Responses Found 2

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

County of Sonoma Agency

Sonoma County Assessor Elected County Office

* 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.