Westpark board opens hearings on two special-assessment districts, hears no public comment and approves consent agenda including final assessments

The Board of Directors of the Westpark Community Facilities District opened public hearings on two special-assessment districts, received no public comment and approved a consent agenda that included adoption of final assessments allowing liens to be placed and bonds to be sold.

Larry Price, the meeting presenter, told the board the hearings were “set aside and published and advertised” for property owners in the affected subdivisions to ask questions about the assessments and the work completed. He said the Westpark special-assessment district at issue covers 446 lots with an assessment of about $3,500 per lot and that the other district—identified in the meeting transcript as Lario at Terrelevallis Crystal Assessment District number 1—covers 97 lots with a $10,000 assessment. Price said the assessments can be paid off at any time or run to maturity, “generally, 20 years,” and that unpaid assessments will be billed on the Maricopa County property tax bill.

The board opened each public hearing in turn and asked whether any members of the public wished to speak. No speaker-request cards were filed and no members of the public spoke; the board closed both hearings without taking separate votes on the hearings themselves. Price told the board that the action items related to the hearings—specifically adopting the final assessments (which enables liens to be recorded) and a subsequent action to permit sale of bonds—were placed on the meeting’s consent agenda for formal approval.

Board member Goodman moved to approve the consent agenda items labeled 3a through 3e; the motion was seconded (second not specified in the transcript) and carried unanimously. The chair declared the consent agenda passed with all present board members voting in the affirmative.

Chair Orsborn adjourned the meeting after the consent agenda vote.

Why it matters: Adopting final assessments allows the district to place liens on assessed properties and proceeds to the next step of financing—selling bonds—which funds the completed infrastructure work for the new subdivisions. Property owners in the affected lots will see the assessments on their Maricopa County property tax bills unless they pay off the assessment earlier.