Benefit Zone 6 - Central Elk Grove

Benefit Zone Information



Benefit Zone 6 - Central Elk Grove, benefits from 8 parks totaling 16 acres. Central Elk Grove is fully built out with no additional parks planned.

Central Elk Grove includes 8 local parks. Elk Grove Park is located in Central Elk Grove but considered a “District Wide” facility, which is accounted for in the District Wide Benefit Zone. There is less than 1 acre of streetscapes in this Benefit Zone.  

Projects

Listed below are the 2019-2020 fiscal year projects staff anticipate completing. Projects are subject to change due to weather and/or unforeseen budgetary changes.

  • In order to stay in compliance with grants received, landscape renovations to replace missing or poor performing plants will be done in the Butterfly Gardens at Castello, Mendoza, and Smedberg Parks.
  • Playground Engineered Wood Fiber will be added to parks where needed to maintain a safe depth.
  • Missing bollards will be replaced at Feickert Park.
Note:  The Central Elk Grove Benefit Zone has $2.1 million of unfunded Park Maintenance Management Plan Projects identified.  Due to limited operational funding and lack of Capital Reserves in this Benefit Zone, only projects related to health and safety will be completed until sufficient funding is identified.

Funding Challenges within Benefit Zone 6

The landscape maintenance funding in Benefit Zone 6 (Central Elk Grove) is currently funded at an unsustainable level. Relatively low assessment rates were established in this benefit zone at its inception in 1997, and since that time the only increases have been the annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) adjustment. The CPI adjustments have ranged from 0.5 - 2.5% in the past five years, and they have not kept pace with rising material and service costs.

Asset Replacement

Sustainable benefit zones collect enough funds to pay for ongoing maintenance costs, while simultaneously building a reserve fund to pay for long-term asset replacement, such as: playgrounds, picnic tables and plants. Because the assessment collected in Benefit Zone 6 cannot adequately fund both routine maintenance and reserve fund contributions, all non-essential asset replacement projects have been suspended until additional funding can be secured.

History

Funding challenges in Benefit Zone 6 are not new. In 2009, property owners were given an opportunity to approve higher assessments in order to offset landscape maintenance funding shortages. At that time, the proposed ballot measure was rejected. 

In November 2017, CSD conducted a survey among all property owners in  Benefit Zone 6 to determine whether they would support an assessment increase. The survey results were well below the minimum threshold needed for approval. As a result, CSD decided to not proceed with a Proposition 218 vote-by-mail ballot procedure.

Benefit Zone 6 Map

Benefit Zone 6 Map - Central Elk Grove