To: Board of Supervisors
From: Monica Nino, County Administrator
Report Title: FY 2023/24 Certification of Proposition 172 Public Safety Sales Tax Maintenance of Effort
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the County Administrator, or designee, to execute, pursuant to Government Code section 30056, the County's Public Safety Augmentation Fund Maintenance of Effort (MOE) Certification Form for Fiscal Year 2023/24 to certify the County exceeds the MOE requirement of $160,057,647 by $247,191,103 and to submit it to the County Auditor-Controller.
FISCAL IMPACT:
This MOE Certification is required by State statute as implemented by guidelines issued by the California State Controller. Failure to submit the required certification form would result in the loss of more than $100 million in State Proposition 172 funds for the current fiscal year. For Fiscal Year 2023/24, the budget includes an estimated Proposition 172 revenue of $107,654,000 to be split between Sheriff Patrol (46.3%), Sheriff Detention (36.3%) and the District Attorney’s Office (17.4%).
BACKGROUND:
This ½ cent sales tax was authorized in 1994 as a result of the 1993/94 state budget process. Proposition 172 (Senate Bill 509) designated that the ½ cent sales tax be deposited to newly created state and local public safety trust funds and allocated to local agencies to fund public safety activities such as police, sheriff, fire, district attorney, county corrections, and ocean lifeguards. Court operations were explicitly excluded.
To prevent supplantation of local revenues that would have otherwise been allocated to public safety functions with Proposition 172 sales tax, the Legislature enacted Assembly Bill 2788 as Chapter 886, Statutes of 1994, which added section 30056 to the Government Code. Government Code section 30056 requires a local agency to commit at least the same resources as were committed in FY 1992/93 (minus certain exclusions), adjusted each year by any growth in its Proposition 172 revenue, as maintenance of effort (MOE) in order to qualify to receive Proposition 172 (Public Safety Sales Tax).
Government Code section 30056 does not specifically define what is meant by “public safety services” and allows each county to make its own computation. In implementing the MOE on May 16, 1995, as indicated in the Certification Form, the County defined public safety as follows: District Attorney (Department 0242), Probation (Departments 0308, 0309, and 0310), Public Defender (Department 0243), Sheriff-Coroner (Departments 0255, 0277, 0300, and 0359), and Inmate Medical Care (Department 0301). It should be noted that the definition of “public safety services” for computation of the MOE obligation does not in any way detract from the Board’s authority to designate those funds to whatever public safety department or service it chooses.
In 1993, the Board of Supervisors directed that all public safety sales tax proceeds be allocated to the District Attorney and Sheriff departments. For the Fiscal Year 2023/24, the budget includes estimated Proposition 172 revenue of $89 million to fund operations in the Sheriff's Office and $18.7 million to fund operations in the District Attorney’s Office.
|
Fiscal Year |
Amount |
|
2005/06 Actual |
$69,281,424 |
|
2006/07 Actual |
$67,318,904 |
|
2007/08 Actual |
$65,314,410 |
|
2008/09 Actual |
$57,641,994 |
|
2009/10 Actual |
$55,379,148 |
|
2010/11 Actual |
$60,388,430 |
|
2011/12 Actual |
$63,922,867 |
|
2012/13 Actual |
$67,178,163 |
|
2013/14 Actual |
$72,053,360 |
|
2014/15 Actual |
$74,736,241 |
|
2015/16 Actual |
$74,141,898 |
|
2016/17 Actual |
$77,499,977 |
|
2017/18 Actual |
$81,282,181 |
|
2018/19 Actual |
$84,460,701 |
|
2019/20 Actual |
$83,679,516 |
|
2020/21 Actual |
$93,672,378 |
|
2021/22 Actual |
$110,868,204 |
|
2022/23 Actual |
$108,343,930 |
|
2023/24 Budgeted |
$107,654,000 |
It has been determined that the adopted budget for the County-defined public safety services exceeded the County’s MOE obligation by more than $247.1 million for FY 2023/24. The MOE calculation was computed pursuant to Government Code section 30056 and AB 2788. By authorizing the County Administrator to execute and submit the MOE Certification Form to the County Auditor-Controller, the Board will assure that the County will receive its full allotment of Proposition 172 funds for the current year.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
Failure to file the required certification will jeopardize the County's eligibility to receive public safety sales tax revenue.