Sacramento Riverfront Project: Raising Funds Through Parcel Levies

The Cities of Sacramento and West Sacramento had a need to analyze to what extent it would be feasible to place an additional levy on parcel owners.  Their planned Capital Riverfront project required funding from numerous sources, one of which proposed was new tax levies on Riverfront area property owners.  In order to perform this analysis, geographic data was collected.  The collection of this data, although a time consuming process, was nonetheless made easier through it’s free availability on a public website. The result of this effort was the creation of maps which helped decision makers visualize the extent of taxation in various areas, allowing them to assess the impact of further levies in order to fund this project.

One of the attractions of Sacramento which draw residents and visitors alike is the waterfront along the Sacramento River.  Boaters find leisure activities at the Marina at Miller Park; walkers, bikers and picnickers find beauty at Discovery Park; and Old Town Sacramento, with it’s historic buildings and museums, draws a diverse crowd.  It’s no wonder why the city wants to focus on these areas as recipients of the Capital Riverfront Project. For West Sacramento as well, developing their portion of the Sacramento River would be an important source of income to an area which could use improvement.  With an aim at both connecting Miller Park and Discovery Park with a series of pathways, as well as further developing the Riverfront area with new housing and businesses, these cities hope to draw more people, and thus more revenue, to an already popular area while preserving the greenback – or open space, as much as possible (Sacramento, 2003).

What makes such an ambitious plan possible is the use of GIS to perform geographic based research and analysis on a multitude of factors in order to support the decision making process in the development of this project.  For instance, geographic research was used  to determine what areas should be developed, to assess the benefits to both the city and waterfront area businesses and residents, and to analyzing pedestrian, traffic, and parking concerns (Sacramento, 2003).  Additionally, important to how this project would be funded, and what this paper focuses on, was the use of geographic based research and analysis to determine the level to which property owners are assessed various levies and assessments.  This geographic based research and analysis was done by acquiring parcel data and tax levy and assessment information in order to display which parcel owners should be responsible for helping to fund this project, as well as analyze the impact of different assessments on these property owners in order to determine the specific amount of direct tax levies and assessments property owners should pay.

Realizing both the value of the Riverfront area, as well as it’s potential for attracting more visitors while improving the quality of life for area residents, the City of Sacramento and the City of West Sacramento entered into a Joint Powers Agreement to address development issues concerning the waterfront area on both sides of the river.  The Capital Riverfront project is aimed to enhance the cultural, recreational, environmental, and business opportunities along the waterfront through long range planning and other initiatives in order to provide a richer social experience for those who live, work, and recreate within the cities involved.  Implemented in phases to be completed in an estimated 15 years, perhaps the most important phase was the issues around securing funding for the riverfront development.  Aside from sources as various grants and private development funds, funding for the project will come in part from tax levies and assessments placed on a specific group of parcel owners (Sacramento, 2003).  As an employee of the Department of Parks and Recreation for the city of Sacramento, our department was delegated to implement this aspect of the project, and I was assigned to help acquire and compile data maintained by the Sacramento County Tax Collector’s office.

As a part of my assignment, I was required to obtain parcel data compiled and stored with the County Assessor and Tax Collector’s office.  Rather than waiting for this information to be shared by this agency, which could have been time consuming as I find that many bureaucratic agencies have their own priorities, I found it more efficient to obtain this information on my own through this agency’s public website. The data which I obtained consisted of parcel data, which included the specific address of each parcel of property, parcel numbers, and the names parcel owners. I was given an spreadsheet which listed 829 parcel numbers of individual parcels within the fixed boundary of those who were to be assessed for this project. I entered 600 of the 829 parcel numbers into the Tax Collector’s Parcel Lookup webpage, at which point a Tax Bill Summary was returned. This Tax Bill Summary included an dollar amount termed the “Direct Levy’s Portion,” which I then selected in order to be taken to the parcel’s “Direct Levy Detail” page, which is shown below.

 This “Direct Levy Detail” page outlined a breakdown of various levy’s which the parcel owner is responsible for, which may be unique to their geographical location, along with a designation for each termed the “Direct Levy Number.”  I then compiled the various direct levy numbers, as well as a description of each levy.  The process included a great deal of copying and pasting of the information into an in-house Department of Parks & Recreation built Excel spreadsheet. 
 

Once this information was compiled for each of the 600 parcels, spreadsheets were constructed to house the information.  Since there were up to 10 different assessments for each parcel, these assessments were assigned a number from 1-10, creating a many-to-one relationship between assessments and the particular parcel.  Two separate spreadsheets were then constructed, an example of both shown below, one to house the total figures for each parcel and one to house the many-to-one individual levies imposed on each parcel. 

Total Tax Figures for Each Parcel Spreadsheet Example

Levies for Each Parcel Spreadsheet Example

These spreadsheets were then converted into a database format file to become compatible with GIS format database files (dbf), as shown below. 

DBF Spreadsheet Example

The dbf file was then imported into ArcGIS v.9.1 and then joined to the already existing parcel data layer.  By joining the two files, the parcel data was then symbolized by the tax levy information and total taxes paid.  Two maps were created, one showing the total taxes paid by the parcel owners, and one showing a breakdown  of the direct levies being paid by the parcel owners.  The total tax information was classified into five categories ranging from $17 to $1,649,124.  The direct levies were classified into five categories based on amounts ranging from $2 to $45,093.  These maps were then provided to the City of Sacramento Mayor’s office and the City of West Sacramento Mayor’s office, along with both city’s Planning Managers so that they could analyze the effect of additional assessments on parcel owners.

The two maps which were created demonstrating the total taxes paid, as well as the breakdown of direct levies can be found below.

According to the maps created, although the amount of total taxes and direct levies varied, there were some general patterns demonstrated.  Generally, the larger parcels, which contain mostly businesses and are primarily located along the American River, pay the most in terms of total tax costs and direct levies.  The smaller parcels, primarily residential and within the vicinity of the Sacramento River, in general pay the least in terms of total taxes and direct levies. 

Using the public website of the County Tax Collector, I was able to successfully obtain tax and levy information for all of the Riverfront area properties I was assigned. Although the process was time consuming, as it required looking up 600 individual parcels and manually copying and pasting the data, I was able to obtain this data without difficulties, as it was publicly available. 

Because this analysis dealt with locations in terms of assessing how much parcel owners are taxed and levied in order to analyze whether or not additional assessments would burden parcel owners, geographic analysis was a good method in assisting in the decision making process.  Because of time constraints and other factors in dealing with individual city bureaucracies, I found that it was more efficient to self-acquire the necessary data rather than wait for it to be shared.  The website parcel lookup which I used was meant to be a tool for parcel owners to lookup their tax data.  Because more datasets are being freely shared on the internet, these tools can also be used for GIS purposes by allowing the ability to self-acquiring data.  In the future, perhaps more datasets can be shared utilizing internet technologies, enabling the ability of GIS users to acquire data in a timely manner.

Cities of Sacramento and West Sacramento, 2003. Celebrating Our River: Sacramento Riverfront Master Plan, San Francisco: Solomon E.T.C.