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<br /> <br />City of San Leandro Page 4-4 <br />Parks Development Impact Fee Study <br />May 14, 2025 <br />revenue within five years or make findings to justify a continued need for the money. Otherwise, <br />those funds had to be refunded. SB 1693, adopted in 1996 as an amendment to the Mitigation Fee <br />Act, changed that requirement in material ways. <br />Now, Section 66001 (d) requires that, for the fifth fiscal year following the first deposit of any impact <br />fee revenue into an account or fund as required by Section 66006 (b), and every five years thereafter, <br />the local agency shall make all of the following findings for any fee revenue that remains <br />unexpended, whether committed or uncommitted: <br />1. Identify the purpose to which the fee will be put; <br />2. Demonstrate the reasonable relationship between the fee and the purpose for which <br />it is charged; <br />3. Identify all sources and amounts of funding anticipated to complete financing of <br />incomplete improvements for which impact fees are to be used; <br />4. Designate the approximate dates on which the funding necessary to complete <br />financing of those improvements will be deposited into the appropriate account <br />or fund. <br />Those findings are to be made in conjunction with the annual reports discussed above. If such <br />findings are not made as required by Section 66001, the local agency could be required to refund <br />the moneys in the account or fund, per Section 66001 (d). <br />Once the agency determines that sufficient funds have been collected to complete financing on <br />incomplete improvements for which impact fee revenue is to be used, it must, within 180 days of <br />that determination, identify an approximate date by which construction of the public improvement <br />will be commenced (Section 66001 (e)). If the agency fails to comply with that requirement, it must <br />refund impact fee revenue in the account according to procedures specified in Section 66001 (d). <br />For a useful discussion of the foregoing requirements, see “The Mitigation Fee Act’s Five-Year <br />Findings Requirement: Beware Costly Pitfalls” by Glen Hansen, Senior Counsel, Abbott and <br />Kindermann, and Rick Jarvis, Managing Partner, Jarvis, Fay and Gibson, presented at the 2022 League <br />of California Cities City Attorneys Spring Conference. <br />Audit Requests. Section 66023 provides that any person may request an audit to determine <br />whether any fee or charge levied by a local agency exceeds the amount reasonably necessary to <br />cover the cost of any product, public facility, as defined in Section 66000, or service provided by the <br />local agency. The legislative body of the local agency may retain an independent auditor to conduct <br />the audit but is not required to conduct an audit if an audit has been performed for the same fee <br />within the previous 12 months. <br />The agency shall retain an independent auditor to conduct an audit only if the person who requests <br />the audit deposits with the local agency the amount of the local agency’s reasonable estimate of the <br />cost of the independent audit. At the conclusion of the audit, the local agency shall reimburse <br />unused sums, if any, or the requesting person shall pay the local agency the excess of the actual cost <br />of the audit over the amount that was deposited. <br />However, if the local agency fails to comply with the annual report requirement of Section 66006 <br />following the establishment, increase or imposition of a fee, but requires payment of that fee in