Oxnard staff recommends City Council set June 3 hearing, levy FY2025–26 assessments for Mandalay Beach Maintenance District

Anthony Miller, special districts manager for the City of Oxnard, told the Finance Governance Committee that staff recommends the City Council hold a public hearing on June 3, 2025, and adopt a resolution to levy fiscal year 2025–26 assessments for the Mandalay Beach Maintenance District (MAD 4).

Miller said the recommendation would allow the council, acting as the legislative body for MAD 4, to receive public testimony on the proposed assessments and then adopt a resolution to levy the special tax for FY2025–26. "Recommendation: that the finance governance committee recommend that the city council, acting as the legislative body for the Mandalay Beach Maintenance District, 1, hold a public hearing on 06/03/2025 to receive public testimony regarding the proposed fiscal year 2025, 26 assessments for the Mandalay Beach Maintenance District and 2, adopt a resolution to levy the special tax assessment for fiscal year 2025, 26 within the Mandalay Beach Maintenance District," Miller said.

Staff gave a brief history of MAD 4, saying the district was formed on Nov. 22, 1983, under the Improvement Act of 1911 to recover the cost of maintaining a 36-acre beach area and landscaping in public rights-of-way within Tract No. 2923. The city's maintenance responsibility became effective July 1, 1986, and the council adopted Resolution No. 9500 in July 1988 to shift most of the district's beach maintenance costs from residents of "the colony" residential development to the Mandalay Beach Resort Hotel. On April 6, 1999, the council adopted the current assessment amounts via Resolution No. 11566. Miller said assessments were capped by Proposition 218 unless voters in MAD 4 take action to change them.

On the FY2025–26 proposal, staff reported a total assessment amount to be collected from property owners of $39,446. Of that, Miller said the city's defined contribution for 40% of beach maintenance costs would be $12,037; that contribution will be budgeted as a transfer out from the general fund to MAD 4 for FY2025–26. Staff listed $21,346 for landscape maintenance and $30,137 attributed to beach maintenance and the county collection fee (the transcript notes a county collection fee of $45). The district maintains landscape along Falkirk Avenue, Harbor Boulevard, Mandalay Beach Road and Costa De Oro, Miller said.

Staff described how the landscape and beach maintenance costs are allocated across property owners: for landscape expenses, 75.4% ($16,095) is allocated to the colony residential development and 24.6% ($5,251) to the hotel property, according to Resolution No. 9500. For the beach maintenance portion, staff said the district bears 60% of the cost (about $18,100), plus the county collection fee; of the assessed beach-maintenance share, the hotel property pays the majority, while colony property owners pay the smaller share as specified in the existing resolutions. A table in the staff report further details the split.

Miller closed by restating the committee recommendation and inviting questions. The transcript does not record a committee vote or further action during the recorded remarks; the next formal step described by staff is the City Council public hearing on June 3, 2025, followed by potential adoption of the resolution to levy assessments.

Next steps: the Finance Governance Committee was asked to recommend that the council hold a public hearing on June 3, 2025, and then consider adopting a resolution to levy the FY2025–26 special tax assessments for Mandalay Beach Maintenance District (MAD 4).