HomeMy WebLinkAboutFin Paramedic Tax Rate for Fiscal Year 2019-20____________________________________________________________________________________
FOR CITY CLERK ONLY
Council Meeting: 03/18/2019
Disposition: Accepted report
Agenda Item No: 4.g
Meeting Date: March 18, 2019
SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
Department: FINANCE
From: Nadine Hade
Finance Director
City Manager Approval: ______________
TOPIC: PARAMEDIC TAX RATE FOR FISCAL YEAR 2019-20
SUBJECT: MAINTAIN UNCHANGED TAX RATES FOR FISCAL YEAR 2019-2020 FOR
PARAMEDIC SERVICES FOR BOTH RESIDENTIAL AND NON-RESIDENTIAL
PROPERTIES IN THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL, CSA 13, CSA 19 AND MARINWOOD
CSD AS PROVIDED FOR IN THE VOTER-APPROVED PARAMEDIC SERVICES
SPECIAL TAX
RECOMMENDATION: Accept report and maintain unchanged the Paramedic Tax rates for 2019-2020
for residential and non-residential properties.
BACKGROUND: In 1979, the voters of San Rafael approved a new tax for the purpose of supporting a
paramedic program. The original ordinance established Municipal Code Chapter 3.28. Included in that
Chapter, under Section 3.28.060, is the authority of the City Council to set the tax rates based upon a
budget recommendation by the City Manager. The tax was applied at a flat rate per residential dwelling.
This tax was also approved by three separate jurisdictions that receive paramedic service from the City
of San Rafael. These areas included the Marinwood Community Services District (CSD), Count y
Service Area No.13 (Upper Lucas Valley) and County Service Area No. 19.
In 1988, the voters approved an extension of the tax to improved non-residential properties, which was
levied on a square footage basis.
In 1996, Proposition 218 was passed by California voters, limiting local governments’ ability to
implement new or raise existing taxes, assessments and other property-related fees. Effectively, under
Proposition 218, no tax can be added or increased without a two-thirds voter approval.
In November 2006, the voters of San Rafael passed Measure P, subsequently designated as
Ordinance 1846, which increased the ceiling on the residential tax rate to $85.00 per living unit and to
$0.11 per square foot on non-residential property. All improved commercial and industrial sites were
levied based upon Assessor square footage records for building size. The other service areas approved
paramedic tax rate ceilings to coincide with San Rafael's measure. In November of 2006, CSA No. 13
approved Measure H and CSA No. 19 approved Measure I, each by a 2/3 majority. Both Measures set
the tax maximums at $85.00 for residential and $0.11 cents per square foot for non-residential.
Similarly, in November 2006, Marinwood CSD approved Measure M to establish the same tax ceilings.
SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT / Page: 2
In November 2010, the voters of San Rafael passed Measure I, subsequently designated as Ordinance
1891, which increased the ceiling on the residential tax rate from $85.00 to $108.00 per living unit and
on the non-residential tax rate from $0.11 to $0.14 per square foot (based on Assessor records of
square footage). This vote was conducted in accordance with Proposition 218 requirements.
In November 2011, the voters of CSA No. 13 and CSA No. 19 passed Measures E and F, respectively.
These measures increased the ceiling on the residential tax rate from $85.00 to $95.00 per living unit
and on the non-residential tax rate from $0.11 to $0.132 per square foot for both service areas.
(Marinwood CSD continues under its Measure M at the rate of $85.00 for residential and $0.11 cents
per square foot for non-residential. That district does not have current plans to introduce a rate increase
issue on future ballots.)
The purpose of this report is to present the proposed budget upon which the recommended tax rates
for Fiscal Year 2019-2020 have been determined. This report was reviewed at the San Rafael City
Council Finance Committee public meeting of March 12, 2019. The Committee is supportive of staff’s
recommendations.
ANALYSIS:
Tax rates and paramedic charges are based upon recovering the cost of service. The cost of the
paramedic program expenditures has been determined in a manner consistent with prior fiscal year
trends, the study of personnel costs, and economic conditions. The sources of funds projected to cover
the Fiscal Year 2019-2020 program costs of $7,790,000 include paramedic tax, third-party billings for
medical emergency response and Medi-Cal reimbursements, paramedic tax back billings, federal
grants, and other revenues. (See Attachment I)
Based upon projected costs, revenues and service levels, the current tax rates will be sufficient to cover
the operating expenses of the paramedic program for the upcoming fiscal year. However, the costs of
providing services are outpacing revenue growth and, therefore, the implementation of rate increases
will be necessary in future years in order to maintain the current levels of service. Staff will review
billing recovery and expenditure trends during the first half of fiscal year 2019-2020, preliminarily to
assess the impact of maintaining service levels in future fiscal years on future tax rates, and report back
during the mid-year review.
Attachment I provides detailed information regarding the proposed revenues and expenditures for
Fiscal Year 2019-2020, as well as the estimated results for Fiscal Year 2018-2019, the previous three
years of actual financial results, and three years of future year projections.
Of the fund balance, a reserve of 10% of the year-over-year change in expenses is recommended to be
set aside for future operational needs to support unexpected revenue or expenditure variances. The
remaining fund balance is recommended to be allocated to the Essential Facilities Phase II capital
project.
Staff recommends maintaining the current respective residential rates of $85 per living unit in
Marinwood CSD and $95 per living unit in the City and CSAs No.13 and No.19. For nonresidential
properties, staff recommends maintaining the current rate of $0.11 per square foot in Marinwood CSD
and $0.132 per square foot for the City and CSAs No. 13 and No. 19. (See Attachment II)
COMMUNITY OUTREACH: For the purpose of transparency and sharing relevant information to the
service areas for whom emergency medical services are provided, all service areas have been advised
SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT / Page: 3
of the recommendations contained in this report through discussions and correspondence with the Fire
Chief. In addition, this recommendation was discussed at a public Finance Committee meeting on
March 12, 2019.
FISCAL IMPACT: The budget as presented is within the voter-approved tax rates for both the
residential and non-residential (commercial and industrial) ratepayers in all jurisdictions.
The paramedic services are accounted for in the Emergency Medical Services Special Revenue Fund.
This fund operates self-sufficiently with revenues from paramedic taxes, third-party medical billings and
other reimbursements. The total expenditures for fiscal year 2019-2020 are projected to be $7,790,000.
Total resources (including fund balance and projected revenues) exceed this amount. An Emergency
Medical Services Fund final budget, which will include changes, if any, to the proposed budget, will be
incorporated into the City-wide operating budget for adoption on July 15, 2019.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Accept report and maintain unchanged Paramedic Tax rates for 2019-
2020 for residential and non-residential properties.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Attachment I (FY 19-20 Paramedic Tax Budget)
2. Attachment II (Paramedic Rate and Ratio History)
City of San Rafael Residential/Non-Residential$89 / 0.1200 $89 / 0.1200 $92 / 0.1250 $95 / 0.1320 $95 / 0.1320 $98 / 0.1400 $101 / 0.1400 $104 / 0.1400Preliminary Actual Actual Actual Estimated Budget Projected Projected Projected2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022 2022-2023Paramedic Tax (a)4,226,020$ 4,495,821$ 4,678,333$ 4,872,000$ 4,872,000$ 5,075,000$ 5,143,000$ 5,211,000$ Paramedic Tax: Prior Year Billings 989,816 244,165 84,000 81,000 76,000 37,000 - Fire Dept.: 3rd Party Billing2,319,676 1,506,437 2,808,780 2,458,000 2,550,000 2,550,000 2,550,000 2,550,000 Federal Grant - GEMT (b)275,772 121,517 168,272 154,000 154,643 154,643 154,000 154,000 Other Revenue 7,751 7,871 56,991 18,000 12,750 12,750 12,750 12,750 IGT-Intergovernmental Transfer 270,335 220,842 494,228 190,000 220,000 220,000 220,000 220,000 Total Revenues7,099,554$ 7,342,304$ 8,450,769$ 7,776,000$ 7,890,393$ 8,088,393$ 8,116,750$ 8,147,750$ Personnel Costs 5,469,474$ 5,825,873$ 5,972,397$ 6,134,049$ 6,292,000$ 6,527,000$ 6,772,000$ 7,026,000$ Supplies and Services 1,252,827 1,336,426 1,253,471 1,498,000 1,498,000 1,542,000 1,589,000 1,636,000 Capital Outlay - - - - - - - Total Expenditures6,722,301$ 7,162,299$ 7,225,868$ 7,632,049$ 7,790,000$ 8,069,000$ 8,361,000$ 8,662,000$ Revenues Over/Under Expenditures 377,253$ 180,005$ 1,224,901$ 143,951$ 100,393$ 19,393$ (244,250)$ (514,250)$ Fund balance, beginning of year 1,187,276 1,564,529 1,744,534 1,744,534 763,205 779,000 798,393 554,143 Transfer to Capital Fund (c) (1,700,000)$ (1,125,280)$ (84,598)$ (d)Fund balance, end of year1,564,529$ 1,744,534$ 1,269,435$ 763,205$ 779,000$ 798,393$ 554,143$ 39,893$ (a) FY 19-20 Paramedic Tax Assumes no change in tax in San Rafael and the CSA's; $95 per living unit and $0.132 per sq. ft. non-residential(b) GEMT - Ground Emergency Medical Transport(c) Policy direction to allocate resources to the Essential Facilities Fund for the capital projects.(d) Fund is to maintain a 10% operations reserve and the remainder is to be transferred to support capital improvements for the paramedic program. The transfer occurs annually after year-end numbers are finalized.Paramedic Tax Budget FY 19-20For illustrative purposes - assumes increase in paramedic tax revenue and 3-4% expense increase
ATTACHMENT II CITY OF SAN RAFAEL
PARAMEDIC SERVICE AREA ZONE B
HISTORY OF TAX RATES AND CAPS
Fiscal Residential Authorized Non-Residential Authorized
Year Tax Rate Cap Tax Rate Cap Explanations
2008-09 77.00$ 85.00$ 0.0960$ 0.1100$
2009-10 81.00$ 85.00$ 0.1030$ 0.1100$
2010-11 85.00$ 85.00$ 0.1100$ 0.1100$
2011-12 89.00$ 108.00$ 0.1200$ 0.1400$ Passage of Measure I
2012-13 89.00$ 108.00$ 0.1200$ 0.1400$
2013-14 89.00$ 108.00$ 0.1200$ 0.1400$
2014-15 $ 89.00 $ 108.00 0.1200$ 0.1400$
2015-16 $ 89.00 $ 108.00 0.1200$ 0.1400$
2016-17 $ 89.00 $ 108.00 0.1200$ 0.1400$
2017-18 $ 92.00 $ 108.00 0.1250$ 0.1400$
2018-2019 adopted $ 95.00 $ 108.00 0.1320$ 0.1400$
2019-2020 proposed $ 95.00 $ 108.00 0.1320$ 0.1400$
CSA# 13, and CSA# 19
PARAMEDIC SERVICE AREA ZONE B
HISTORY OF TAX RATES AND CAPS
Fiscal Residential Authorized Non-Residential Authorized
Year Tax Rate Cap Tax Rate Cap Explanations
2008-09 77.00$ 85.00$ 0.0960$ 0.1100$
2009-10 81.00$ 85.00$ 0.1030$ 0.1100$
2010-11 85.00$ 85.00$ 0.1030$ 0.1100$
2011-12 85.00$ 85.00$ 0.1100$ 0.1100$
2012-13 89.00$ 95.00$ 0.1200$ 0.1320$ Passage of Measure E & F
2013-14 89.00$ 95.00$ 0.1200$ 0.1320$
2014-15 89.00$ 95.00$ 0.1200$ 0.1320$
2015-16 89.00$ 95.00$ 0.1200$ 0.1320$
2016-17 89.00$ 95.00$ 0.1200$ 0.1320$
2017-18 92.00$ 95.00$ 0.1250$ 0.1320$
2018-2019 adopted 95.00$ 95.00$ 0.1320$ 0.1320$
2019-2020 proposed 95.00$ 95.00$ 0.1320$ 0.1320$
MARINWOOD (CSD)
PARAMEDIC SERVICE AREA ZONE B
HISTORY OF TAX RATES AND CAPS
Fiscal Residential Authorized Non-Residential Authorized
Year Tax Rate Cap Tax Rate Cap Explanations
2008-09 77.00$ 85.00$ 0.0960$ 0.1100$
2009-10 81.00$ 85.00$ 0.1030$ 0.1100$
2010-11 85.00$ 85.00$ 0.1100$ 0.1100$
2011-12 85.00$ 85.00$ 0.1100$ 0.1100$
2012-13 85.00$ 85.00$ 0.1100$ 0.1100$
2013-14 85.00$ 85.00$ 0.1100$ 0.1100$
2014-15 85.00$ 85.00$ 0.1100$ 0.1100$
2015-16 85.00$ 85.00$ 0.1100$ 0.1100$
2016-17 85.00$ 85.00$ 0.1100$ 0.1100$
2017-18 85.00$ 85.00$ 0.1100$ 0.1100$
2018-2019 adopted 85.00$ 85.00$ 0.1100$ 0.1100$
2019-2020 proposed 85.00$ 85.00$ 0.1100$ 0.1100$
Fiscal Year Residential Non-Residential
2008-09 63.80% 36.20%
2009-10 63.70% 36.30%
2010-11 63.30% 36.70%
2011-12 63.70% 36.30%
2012-13 63.70% 36.30%
2013-14 63.50% 36.50%
2014-15 63.60% 36.40%
2015-16 63.60% 36.40%
2016-17 56.99% 43.01%
2017-18 53.97% 46.03%
2018-2019 adopted 53.40% 46.60%
2019-2020 proposed 53.40% 46.60%
Paramedic Tax Ratio