Cotati City Council
Agenda Staff Report
Item type: PUBLIC HEARINGS (ACTION)
To: City Council
Subject: CONSIDERATION TO ADOPT RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING
THE OUTSTANDING BACKFLOW TESTING CHARGES
FROM FISCAL YEAR 2024-2025 AND LEVYING OF
ASSESSMENTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2025-2026
Date: August 12, 2025
Written by: Craig Scott, Director of Public Works/City Engineer Recommendation
It is recommended that the City Council conduct a public hearing to receive all oral and written public comments to the amount of Fiscal Year 2024-2025 backflow testing charges and approve a resolution establishing the outstanding backflow testing charges and directing the levying of assessments on the Fiscal Year 25/26 property tax rolls.
Background
The City of Cotati (City) is required by state law to ensure all backflow devices in the water distribution system are tested annually. The City established backflow testing requirements with Ordinance No. 773. This Ordinance established that the testing and associated costs are the responsibility of the property owner and allowed levying of assessment of outstanding backflow charges onto their property taxes. Under California State law, the City is required to hold a public hearing annually to set the assessment rates for the following year for each outstanding backflow testing charge. On July 8, 2025, the City Council set a public hearing for August 12, 2025.
Analysis/Discussion
The City notifies all property owners annually of the need for testing and certification of their backflow devices. A portion of the property owners conduct their own testing, and submit the certifications to the City. Other property owners rely on the City to conduct the testing and certification. Following testing, any necessary repairs, and certification by the City, the City invoices the property owner for the cost of the service. Most property owners pay the City in a timely manner. However, some are not responsive to requests for payment. These properties are listed in the attached resolution.
Adoption of the attached resolution sets the property tax assessment to recover the outstanding backflow testing charges.
Financial Considerations
The costs of back flow testing are expected to be paid by owners of the property for which the testing was performed. These testing charges remain unpaid despite repeated attempts for payment.
Environmental Issues
The proposed action is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under CEQA Guidelines Section 15378 on the grounds that this action is not a project which has a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonable foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment as the action proposed is to establish the outstanding backflow testing charges from Fiscal Year 2024-2025 and levy assessments against certain properties for Fiscal Year 2025-2026.