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APPROVE RESOLUTION OF INTENTION FOR THE FORMATION OF THE FIVE MILE SLOUGH ASSESSMENT DISTRICT, PRELIMINARILY APPROVE AN ENGINEER’S REPORT, AND SET A PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER THE FORMATION OF THE ASSESSMENT DISTRICT AND THE LEVY OF A PROPOSED ASSESSMENT
recommended action
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council adopt a Resolution of Intention:
1. Expressing Council’s intent to form the Five Mile Slough Assessment District.
2. Preliminarily approve the Five Mile Slough Assessment District Engineer's Report for the Fiscal Year 2027-28.
3. Preliminarily approve the proposed Fiscal Year 2027-28 budget.
4. Direct the preparation and mailing of notices pursuant to Proposition 218 to each landowner of record within the proposed Five Mile Slough Assessment District.
5. Authorize the City Manager, or designee, to sign the ballots for City-owned properties in the proposed district to be in favor of formation.
6. Set a public hearing for the formation of the Five Mile Slough Assessment District, tabulation of ballots, and consideration of the proposed assessment on June 9, 2026.
7. Authorize the City Clerk to publish required notices for the Public Hearing and Proposition 218 proceeding.
It is also recommended that the City Manager be authorized to take appropriate and necessary actions to carry out the purpose and intent of this resolution.
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Summary
The proposed Five Mile Slough Assessment District (District) would levy assessments to fund maintenance related to water quality in the Five Mile Slough area (Attachment A). The Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972 (Act), under which this District will be formed, requires preliminary approval of the District budget and the Engineer’s Report, requires a public hearing for final approval of the formation of the District and its proposed budget and Engineer’s Report, and for the tabulation of protests pursuant to Government Code Section 53753.
The recommended resolution expresses the Council’s intention to form the District, preliminarily approves the District's Engineer's Report (Exhibit 1 to the Resolution) and the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027-28 budget (Attachment B), directs the mailing of ballots pursuant to Government Code Section 53753, and sets a public hearing for June 9, 2026, for the final approval of the District’s formation, FY 2027-28 budget and Engineer's Report, as well as for the tabulation of ballot results.
DISCUSSION
Background
Five Mile Slough and Five Mile Creek’s natural watercourse and function have been altered due to channel straightening and levee construction in the late 1800s and early 1900s, removal of tributary streams, construction of the roadway crossings, and increased peak flows from urbanization from the 1950s to the present. Since the 1990s, residents and Reclamation District 1608 have been notified through letters and public outreach meetings by both the City of Stockton (City) and San Joaquin County (County) about stagnant water, declining water quality, invasive aquatic weeds, a deteriorating ecosystem, and lack of maintenance within both Five Mile Slough and Five Mile Creek.
Many of these issues are interrelated, requiring a coordinated response by responsible parties to implement multiple solutions to address the issues simultaneously to prevent the problems from recurring, avoid creating new problems, and avoid making other issues worse. Efforts to improve the waterway and mitigate and remove aquatic weeds have been difficult due to the private ownership of Five Mile Slough and Five Mile Creek amongst residents, a lack of clear jurisdictional and maintenance responsibilities, and, therefore, a lack of funding mechanisms. The City and the County have allocated discretionary funds for maintenance in recent years; however, these funds are not consistent or guaranteed year after year.
In 2025, the City allocated discretionary funds to study the formation of an assessment district to create a clear jurisdictional responsibility for certain maintenance activities and to provide a consistent funding source for the maintenance.
In 2025, Siegfried Engineering, Inc. (Siegfried) was retained to evaluate and determine the feasibility of forming the assessment district for the maintenance of special benefits associated with the waterway per the Act. The waterway, based on a 2016 study performed by Siegfried, has been determined to be a combination of backwater sloughs, which create a linked system of ponds from the White Slough Dam to approximately Caran Avenue, and a storm conveyance mechanism from Caran Avenue to Pacific Avenue at the terminal end of the Five Mile Creek. The backwater slough functions as a source for irrigation water for the City-owned Swenson Park and Golf Course, and the weir is adjusted annually to raise the water depth in the summer to support the irrigation functions. The ownership of the waterway varies from public to private entities.
In order to form an assessment district, the special and general benefits of the assessment must be defined, a budget to maintain the special benefit must be established, the parcels included in the assessment district, and the methodology behind the spread of assessment developed. After a public outreach meeting held on December 18, 2025, the District’s Engineer’s Report, budget, and maps were finalized for presentation to Council for its consideration in proceeding with the formation of the proposed District and associated assessment.
Present Situation
The Act and the associated processes under Proposition 218 require all benefiting property owners to be given the opportunity to vote on the establishment of a maintenance assessment district and the associated assessment. The District cannot be formed and, accordingly, cannot levy the proposed assessments if a majority protest exists. A majority protest exists if the assessment ballots submitted and are not withdrawn, in opposition to the proposed assessment exceeding the assessment ballots submitted and are not withdrawn, in its favor. Each assessment ballot is weighted by the amount of the proposed assessment to be imposed upon the identified parcel for which each assessment ballot was submitted.
The proposed District consists of 198 parcels in the Swenson Park area (Attachment A) and would allow for assessments to be collected for the special benefit received as a result of improved water quality. The general benefit portion of the proposed District’s budget is included in the Public Works, San Joaquin Area Flood Control Agency, and County Operating budgets for their respective responsibilities.
The proposed District would set annual assessments to be collected by the County with annual property taxes on each taxable parcel contained within the District. These annual assessments provide funding for the maintenance and repair of the water quality improvements and odor-reducing measures; grant writing for odor reduction and water quality improvement; invasive vegetation removal and supplemental spraying; sediment removal or reduction; and erosion repair, which confer a special benefit to the assessed properties. The fund also accounts for preparing an Annual Engineer's Report and assessment roll. The Annual Engineer's Report contains the District's budget. The budget details the maintenance and administrative costs for the District.
The total maximum estimated revenue required for FY 2027-28 operation and administration costs is $87,878.60. However, the actual assessment in the initial years will be lower due to the water quality devices not yet being funded or installed.
The special benefit received by each parcel is directly proportional to the square feet of parcel area (SF) of each parcel receiving the special benefit, as defined in the Engineer’s Report. The maximum FY 2027-28 SF assessment rate will be $0.0171546 (Attachment B).
The proposed District assessment includes an annual escalator. The escalator is the greater of three percent or the increase in the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward All Urban Consumers Price Index (CPI). The escalator allows the assessment, when necessary, to keep pace with inflation without having to go through the time and expense to ballot the property owners. The maximum allowable assessment annually adjusts by the CPI, while the actual assessment needed to cover a zone's expenses is determined based on the estimated expenses for the fiscal year.
At the end of each fiscal year, any unexpended funds are returned to the District's reserve, which can be used to fund District improvements.
Notice of the proposed assessment must be mailed to each property owner of record within the proposed District no later than 45 days before the date of the hearing on the District’s formation. The required notices will be mailed to all landowners of record no later than April 25, 2026.
In addition, notice of the public hearing is required to be published a minimum of 10 days prior to the public hearing. The required notice will be published in The Record on or before May 30, 2026.
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
Total Proposed FY 2027-28 Maximum Assessments $87,878.60
Total Proposed FY 2027-28 Appropriation from Reserves $ 0.00
TOTAL PROPOSED FY 2027-28 SPECIAL BENEFIT BUDGET $87,878.60
Assessments are collected to fund the special benefit costs received by the properties in the District and held in a separate fund for this purpose. Funds for the general benefit costs will be presented to Council for consideration during the normal budget process for the FY 2027-28 and are estimated to be $0.00.
The impact to the City's General Fund will be the City’s proportional share of the special benefit, which is estimated to be a maximum of $20,439.80 in FY 2027-28, as a result of taking the recommended actions.
Attachment A - Map of Five Mile Slough Assessment District
Attachment B - Proposed FY 2027-28 Budget