Calaveras supervisors direct Prop. 218 notice on commercial parcel fee after consultant recommends $277.30-per-ERU rate

The Calaveras County Board of Supervisors on May 6 heard a presentation from consultant Raftelis and county staff on a commercial-parcel fee study and directed Integrated Waste Management to mail Proposition 218 notices for a public hearing on or about June 25, 2025, to consider a commercial parcel fee increase.

The study, prepared as a follow-up to the 2024 cost-of-service analysis, recommends apportioning commercial fees using equivalent residential units (ERUs) and applying a $277.30-per-ERU rate adopted in 2024. Consultant Terry Boveri of Raftelis told the board the recommended commercial fee schedule, if fully applied, would generate approximately $1,880,000 in additional annual revenue and would allow the county to implement the 2024 cost-of-service findings.

Why it matters: County staff and the consultant told supervisors the county system has been underfunded for decades and that without new revenue the county risks using reserves set aside for landfill maintenance and expansion. County staff said the parcel fee had not been adjusted in about 32 years and that the recommended commercial fees are intended to ensure full cost recovery for the solid-waste system.

Study methodology and numbers

Raftelis described a multi-step method that: grouped assessor land-use codes into manageable commercial categories; used franchise-hauler billing data (container size and collection frequency) as a proxy for waste generation; apportioned county-reported commercial tonnages to those categories; converted tonnages to pounds; and calculated ERU factors by dividing pounds per parcel by the residential-generation baseline used in 2024. Using those ERU factors and the $277.30 ERU rate, Raftelis estimated roughly $1.8 million in new annual commercial revenue and advised periodic review of parcel fees every three to five years.

"We're gonna generate approximately 1,800,000.0 in additional annual revenue," consultant Terry Boveri said during the presentation.

Board discussion: equity, parcel vs. business, timing

Supervisors voiced support for the technical work but raised concerns about equity and how the fee attaches to parcels rather than individual businesses. Several supervisors said small "mom-and-pop" retailers that share a parcel with larger tenants could effectively pay the same parcel fee despite generating much less waste; others noted that some shopping centers already have separate assessor parcel numbers for each tenant.

Julie Moskov, associate county counsel, and staff clarified that the fee is applied by parcel (assessor parcel numbers/land-use codes), and that changes to a parcel's land-use classification or special approvals (for example, a conditional-use permit) are handled through the Assessor's Office and could affect how a parcel is categorized for fees.

Supervisors also questioned whether the board could amend the fee downward at the public hearing. County counsel reported no authority suggesting it would be impermissible to notice a higher figure and then impose a lower fee, and staff later confirmed the notices were already printed to meet the Prop. 218 timeline. The board was told a 45-day notice is required before the public hearing; staff said mailing the notices this week was necessary to implement any changes in the coming fiscal year.

Public comment and implementation risk

At least two members of the public addressed the board. Lou Bompas, a San Andreas business owner, said he and his wife visit the landfill infrequently and warned a large per-trip cost could force him to close: "If I come down, it's gonna cost me $500 to go to the dump. If that's the case, I'm gonna close my business," he said.

County staff and consultants acknowledged that the parcel-fee approach uses averages and available administrative data rather than parcel-level weighed measurements. Staff said garbage trucks do not have scales and that the best available local proxy for generation is hauler billing data (container size and pickup frequency) combined with landfill tonnage totals.

Next steps and fiscal stakes

The board gave direction to proceed with mailing Proposition 218 notices to the commercial parcel class (914 current fee payers were cited in discussion for receiving notices) and to hold a public hearing on or about June 25, 2025. Staff said that if the fee increases do not move forward, the county would face an annual shortfall of roughly $1.5 million and would have to draw on reserves intended for landfill expansion and maintenance, which could jeopardize planned capital work.

Staff and consultants also offered options for the future: periodic reviews every three to five years, a possible phased implementation (consultants said a two-year phase-in had been used for some commercial accounts previously), and further study of whether additional category splits (for example, separating small retail from larger retail or identifying parcels with multiple businesses) could be created administratively via assessor land-use codes.

Board direction at the meeting explicitly authorized mailing Prop. 218 notices to the commercial parcel class; the board did not record a formal roll-call vote on a final ordinance at the meeting. The public hearing remains the formal opportunity for the board to adopt, lower, or reject any fee schedule.