Appendix 81008. Administrative fees.

The Board of Supervisors finds that this Chapter protects the owners of mobile dwelling units from unreasonable rent increases and recognizes the need of park owners for a fair return on their property and a sufficient rental income. The Chapter services a limited segment of the public, the tenants and park owners. Therefore, that service is not generally applicable to the public at large. The tenants benefit from the Chapter provisions, but the park owners also benefit. For instance, the administration of this Chapter provides a certain level of stability for the park owners in that they know they are annually eligible for a reasonable rent increase and that there is a fair process to resolve tenant concern with rent increases. Additionally, in recent years there have been amendments made to this Chapter and procedures that have allowed greater rental income over and above the annually permitted increases and, or reduced costs to the park owners, i.e., vacancy decontrol, utility separations, amortization extensions and sliding scale application fees. Also, this fee accompanies the elimination of the Section 81005 application fee for the park owners. Furthermore, during the administration of this Chapter it is often necessary for staff to work with tenants and park owners to assist in resolving issues of concern to both. This has benefited the park owners as well as the tenants.

The Board of Supervisors finds that the County incurs certain costs administering this Chapter in the interests described in Section 810001 (Purpose and Intent), and as noted above. The Board concludes that a fee that bears a reasonable relationship to the services provided is necessary.

(a)

Program Administration Fee. The total of said fee is in the current Board of Supervisors' adopted Planning Division Fee Schedule.

(b)

The percent of said fee paid by the park owner and the affected tenants shall be proportionate to the services provided to each as determined by the standards set forth in the Board of Supervisors' adopted Planning Division Fee Schedule. The tenant portion of the fee shall be collected by the park owner in twelve (12) equal monthly installments which may be included with the monthly statement of rent due, but must be separately itemized.

(c)

This fee shall not be included in the rent base when calculating ministerial rent increases, but may be used in enumerating housing service costs. The fee for the entire park must be submitted with the annual rent increase request as part of the annual rent increase application, or in the event there is no application, the fee shall be paid on the month and day of the most recent application's effective date.

(d)

The Planning Director shall report to the Board of Supervisors triennially with a recommendation regarding the amount necessary to recover the costs of administering this Chapter, and the proportion of said fee levied on the tenants and the park owners based on the relative service provided to each. A notification of the hearing on any proposed fee changes shall be mailed at least ten (10) days in advance to each park owner and to the manager of each park for public posting.

(Ord. No. 4462, 5-6-2014)