Only $143,983 in Mitigation Fees Collected in Fiscal Year 2016 for Fire Stations.
California State Controller requires local agencies to submit a Financial Transactions Report within seven (7) months after the close of the fiscal year. For the City of Beaumont, the Report was due to the State by March 1, 2017.
The City completed their Reports on March 23, 2017, and can be found on the City’s website under ‘Audits and Reports’ : http://www.ci.beaumont.ca.us/index.aspx?NID=921
A complete Audit of the City’s SCO Transactions Reports will be completed and submitted to the State and Feds; but let’s just look at the Fire Station Mitigation Fees declared by the City.
Page 10/39 of the City’ Financial Transactions lists ‘Construction Development Taxes’ – the City’s Mitigation Fees collected.
There was a total of $7,720,131 collected, but only $143,983 was collected for Fire Stations.
The entire point of collecting mitigation fees is to pay for the infrastructure that would be needed for the ‘future residents’. Fire Station Mitigation Fees need to be about $1,000 per house so that fire stations can be build and maintained.
2015 Internal Control Report page 16 Finding 2015-10 Development Impact Fees: “Also, it appears that one individual is responsible for calculating the DIF (manual calculation) and applying applicable fee credits., if any, with little or no oversight.”
Page 24 of the 2015 Internal Control Report used the fire station mitigation fees as an example: “City Ordinance No. 795 was established in September, 1999 for the purpose of establishing a fire station development fee. Section of the Ordinance indicates that purpose of the fee is to finance the acquisition of three fire stations. In addition, Section 8 of the Ordinance states that the “Fire Station Development Fees shall be deposited in a restricted account and accounted for in a manner that will ensure that the Fees shall be expended solely for the purposes for which the Fees were collected. Any interest income earned thereon shall be retained in the restricted account.”
“the Fire Station Development Fee, along with the other 15+ DIF, were all accounted for in the same fund in the City’s general ledger. City staff were unable to provide documentation to provide detail of the purposed restrictions as of June 30, 2015.”
And what did the City do with the $143,983? Are the funds in a secured account collecting interest with the rest of the fire station mitigation fees collected for the past 20 years?
Noooooooo. The money was deposited into the General Fund – never to be seen or heard from again.
But don’t worry Beaumont Citizens; your lawyers and consultants that work so hard and do such a good job are going to ‘pencil in’ construction of a fire station in 2020 because fire stations aren’t important and to paraphrase your $900/hour lawyer; you weren’t ‘promised’ a fire station.
And let’s not forget about the phony Fire Station Committee who paraded themselves around town, wasted taxpayer money, and padded themselves on the back for working so hard and doing such a good job. Thank you for your ‘service’.
Developer Mitigation Fees are listed on the City’s website: http://www.ci.beaumont.ca.us/documentcenter/view/24301