Alameda County Flood Control presents plan to raise benefit assessments for zones covering San Leandro

Officials from the Alameda County Flood Control and Water Conservation District presented an informational briefing to the San Leandro City Council on a proposed revenue enhancement that would raise benefit assessments in three district zones to pay for critical flood-control upgrades.

District staff said the current benefit assessment has not increased since 1993 and that aging channels, pump stations and levees in parts of western Alameda County need upgrades to handle larger storms and sea-level rise. The district’s draft plan focuses on Zones 2, 4 and 9 and proposes a 20-year financing strategy to fund roughly $373 million of prioritized projects instead of the district’s broader $700 million needs list.

Deputy director Moses Tang reviewed storm damage experienced during heavy late-2022 and early-2023 events and described channel scour, pump-station stress and localized street flooding in San Leandro. Consultant Sybil Hatch told the council the district collects about $10 million per year from multiple streams and that a modest increase in the benefit assessment is necessary to fund critical projects. Hatch estimated that current single-family assessments in the three zones — about $18 to $27 per year — could rise to roughly $88–$90 for some properties under the proposed plan, though exact amounts will be calculated per parcel in engineers’ reports.

Hatch said the district’s outreach will be extensive and educational; the process includes a formal engineers’ report required under Proposition 218, mailed ballots and a public hearing. Ballots are expected next year; if no majority protest is recorded and weighted ballots favor the measure, new assessments would begin to be collected in August following the vote.

Council members asked about who votes, parcel weighting and the effects of partial passage. County staff explained each zone’s vote is separate: if a zone’s property owners approve, that zone’s projects proceed; projects in zones that fail to pass would not be funded through the district assessment. Council members also pressed for consideration of fairness measures for fixed-income residents; district staff said they had not yet modeled targeted discounts but would review options and legal constraints in the District Act.

Public commenters and council members raised sea-level rise, FEMA grant timing and the importance of local pump-station and levee work in San Leandro. District staff said designs will be adaptive to rising tides and that the district will coordinate with adjacent jurisdictions and agencies to align outfall and shoreline improvements. The district emphasized that money collected in a zone must be spent within that zone.

The presentation was informational; no county action was taken by the San Leandro council. District staff recommended continued outreach to community groups and HOAs, completion of an engineer’s report in January, ballot mailing in February and a public hearing in March.