County of Santa Clara
Environmental Resources Agency

REC’D AUG 0 2 2004

County Government Center, East Winjr
70 West Hedding Street, 1 1 th Floor
San Jose. California 951 10

(408)299-5191 FAX 295-9786
HTTP://ERA.SCCGOV.ORG

OFF-AGEM)A REPORT

August 2, 2004
To:

Each Member ofthe Board of Supervisors
Pete Kutras, County Executive

From:

W.T. Chow

Director, Environmental Resources Agency
Subject:

Referral from June 22,2004 Board meeting (item 29)pertaining to the
feasibility of a General Plan Maintenance Fee(GPMF)

It will not be feasible for the Environmental Resources Agency to complete the requested
GPMF study, as specified in the attached Board referral, by August 6,2004(45 days after
Jime 22, 2004)for the following reasons.

Staff will need more time to pre-test, revise and administer the survey and to develop the
model and projections. Respondents will need time to complete the questionnaire. Staff
will need time to compile, analyze and review the results, explain the assumptions and
methodology, present the findings and prepare the transmittals. Staff is already spread
thin on Board mandated programs and projects. Reassigning staff to a new study would
detract from their progress. Workloads have increased because of current and anticipated
vacancies, spawned by early retirements, staffing reductions, and attrition. It is difficult

to predict how long these tasks will take to complete, especially with the freeze on filling
vacancies. Survey respondents may also be overloaded, because of similar budget and
staffing shortages, and may not respond (even when prompted) or may respond slowly.
Given these uncertainties, we ask that this report back be scheduled for presentation to
HLUET in December and thereafter to FGOC and the Board of Supervisors. If the Board
needs to review the study earlier, then the study can be presented to both HLUET and
FGOC in December and thereafter to the Board of Supervisors.
At the request of Aaron Starr from Supervisor Kniss’ office, the survey will focus on all
other counties in California and the cities in Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda and Santa
Cruz Counties.
attachment
c:

Phyllis Perez

Board of Supervisors: Donald F. Gage. Blanca Alvarado, Pete McHugh. James T. Beall. Jr.. Liz Kniss
County Executive: Peter Kutras. Jr.

8-015

County of S~nta Clara
Office of the Clerk of the Board

Board of Supervisors Referral
Meeting Date : June 22, 2004
2

Referred to

Office of the County Executive(Peter Kutras Jr.); Environmental Resources
Agency(Tim Chow);

Item#

29

Board Date

June 22, 2004

Due Date

Date Uncertain (On Agenda)

Subject

Feasibility of a General Plan Maintenance Fee

Directive

At the request of Supervisor Kniss, the Board directed the Administration to
report to the Board through the Housing, Land Use, Environment and
Transportation Committee, and the Finance and Government Operations
Committee on the feasibility of the County instituting a General Plan
Maintenance Fee.

CC:

Office of Budget and Analysis(Leslie Crowell); Employee Services
Agency(Tommy Nguyen); Supervisor Pete McHugh(Pete McHugh); Supervisor
Donald F. Gage(Donald F. Gage); Supervisor James T. Beall, Jr.(James T.
Beall, Jr.);

1