CITY OF MENIFEE
SUBJECT: Valley-Wide Recreation and Park District Landscape Maintenance District Discussion
MEETING DATE: October 1, 2025
TO: Mayor and City Council
PREPARED BY: Mariana Mitchell, Community Services Director REVIEWED BY: Rebekah Kramer, Deputy City Manager
APPROVED BY: Armando G. Villa, City Manager
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RECOMMENDED ACTION
1. Review and discuss options related to the maintenance and recreation services provided in the Valley-Wide Recreation and Park District Landscape Maintenance Districts located within the City of Menifee.
DISCUSSION
Valley-Wide Recreation and Park District (Valley-Wide) is a regional park system that owns and/or maintains streetscapes, retention basins, recreational facilities, and over 80 parks in the eastern portion of Menifee, Hemet, San Jacinto, Beaumont, and unincorporated areas of Riverside County including Winchester and French Valley. Both the City and Valley-Wide are public agencies who receive special tax district revenues from residents’ property tax assessments to maintain and operate their facilities. There are three Landscape Maintenance Districts (LMDs) located in the City of Menifee on the east side of Interstate 215 that fall within the Valley-Wide service area including 24 parks. All three of these LMDs were established prior to the City’s incorporation in 2008.
The LMDs include Menifee Parks, Menifee North, and Menifee South:
•Menifee Parks LMD lies entirely within City boundaries and includes Wheatfield Park and Community Center, the Menifee Gymnasium (operated under a joint-use agreement with the Menifee Union School District), and Lago Vista Sports Park. •Menifee North LMD includes two County-owned facilities operated and maintained by Valley-Wide including the Marion V. Ashley Community Center and Eller Park.
Approximately 20% of this district lies outside the City’s limits. •Menifee South LMD is the smallest of the three districts, contains no sports parks or facilities, and has about 6% of its area outside City limits.
City of Menifee Staff Report
VWRPD Landscape Maintenance District Discussion
October 1, 2025
3 0
0 3
With continued growth and development occurring throughout the City, parks and recreation services must be continually assessed to ensure the service needs of our community are met.
As such, consideration of the unification of Menifee parks and recreation services was identified as a priority in both the City’s Strategic Plan and Parks Master Plan. For this reason, on August 21, 2024, the City Council approved a professional services agreement with Spicer Consulting Group, LLC (SCG) to conduct a special district annexation fiscal impact analysis to evaluate the feasibility of the City providing maintenance and recreation services in the Valley-Wide LMDs located within the City of Menifee. SCG, alongside City staff, conducted a thorough analysis of service costs and potential revenue offsets based on available financial data and comparison to the City’s current level of service at City-maintained parks and facilities.
On September 22, 2025, the City Council and Parks, Recreation, and Trails Commission (PRTC) held a joint workshop to review and discuss the results of the fiscal impact analysis. The study analyzed projected costs and revenues if the City were to assume responsibility for the three LMDs including:
•An overview of Valley-Wide operations, boundaries, and budget; •Financial and staffing estimates based upon City service levels; and •Detachment/annexation process requirements, including a Riverside County, Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) application, collaboration with Valley-Wide, and potential Proposition 218 proceedings which require property owner approval for a change in a special district property tax assessment. These requirements are anticipated based upon LAFCO’s findings in the City’s prior detachment/annexation application.
While LAFCO conditionally approved the City’s prior application in August 2017, the City was unable to meet all the detachment conditions within the established 12-month implementation period. These conditions included:
•A requirement for the City to pay $500,000 to Valley-Wide to address the financial impact of the detachment; and
•Initiation/approval of a Proposition 218 property tax assessment vote; establishment of a joint powers agreement to jointly administer the existing LMDs and levy assessments; or use of the City’s General Fund revenue to support the LMD operations and maintenance costs.
It is anticipated that similar stipulations would be required should the City move forward with a new detachment/annexation application for one or more of the LMD’s owned and/or maintained by Valley-Wide.
While it is anticipated that LAFCO would approve the City’s detachment/annexation application, approval is not guaranteed, as there are numerous factors that LAFCO will need to consider as part of the application review process. Given that both the Menifee North and Menifee South LMDs contain zones that fall outside Menifee’s city limits, it is expected that LAFCO would condition any detachment/annexation on the successful completion of Proposition 218 property tax assessment change proceedings for each zone contained within the two districts. Menifee North contains 10 separate zones and Menifee South contains 15 zones including zone 6 which encompasses parcels within and outside of Menifee’s city limits. Each zone would be considered City of Menifee Staff Report
VWRPD Landscape Maintenance District Discussion
October 1, 2025
3 0
0 3
separately for the purposes conducting the Proposition 218 election proceedings. A successful detachment/annexation process would require approval from property owners in every zone. If only a portion of the zones within each district were to approve the detachment/annexation it would not be feasible to move forward as it would be cost prohibitive to provide maintenance and recreation services to only a portion of the zones within each district.
It is also important to note that Proposition 218 proceedings require a study to determine general versus parcel specific use benefits. The findings from this study could reduce recoverable costs under the existing property tax assessments and increase the City’s General Fund obligations.
Additionally, while the City and Valley-Wide would have the ability to provide community outreach to inform property owners about the voting process neither agency could advocate for or against the detachment/annexation.
It is anticipated that it would take approximately 24 months to complete the LAFCO detachment/annexation application process along with the Proposition 218 property tax assessment elections. The cost of completing these procedural steps are estimated at $200,000 in addition to the allocation of staff time and legal expenses. These costs would be incurred regardless of whether the detachment/annexation is approved.
The study presented on September 22 found that full annexation would require an annual General Fund contribution of close to $1.5 million over and above the existing property tax assessments, with additional one-time costs. It was also acknowledged that the annual General Fund obligation associated with maintaining the three LMDs would continue to grow over time. The members of the City Council, and PRTC discussed the benefits of local control and consistent service levels alongside concerns about fiscal impacts, service equity, and the challenges associated with the annexation process.
Based on the fiscal analysis and discussion at the September 22, 2025, joint workshop, staff has identified three potential options for Council’s consideration.
1. Partnership Approach
Under this option, City staff would continue to work to strengthen our partnership with Valley-Wide Recreation and Park District. This could include regular coordination meetings, joint planning efforts, or agreements aimed at improving service consistency, clarifying responsibilities, and/or addressing concerns related to fee structures. This option would allow services to continue under the existing LMDs owned and maintained by Valley-Wide.
2. Phased Approach
Under this option the City would work in collaboration with Valley-Wide on a phased approach beginning with the detachment/annexation of the Menifee Parks District, which lies entirely within Menifee’s city limits and includes approximately 65 acres of parkland across 12 parks. Because the district does not extend outside of city boundaries, it is anticipated that the detachment/annexation process would not require Proposition 218 proceedings, though it would still require coordination/collaboration with Valley-Wide and LAFCO approval. Annexation of this single district would bring additional consistency to park operations in central Menifee, while allowing the City to City of Menifee Staff Report
VWRPD Landscape Maintenance District Discussion
October 1, 2025
3 0
0 3
defer consideration of the detachment/annexation of the Menifee North and Menifee South LMDs. It is anticipated that completion of the LAFCO detachment/annexation application process for the Menifee Parks LMD would cost approximately $40,000 in addition to staff time and legal costs. The estimated annual General Fund obligation associated with annexation of the Menifee Parks LMD is a little over $647,000 in addition to the existing property tax assessments. Given that only 2.5 percent of the zones contained within this district include an annual tax assessment escalator, the General Fund obligation associated with maintaining this LMD would continue to grow over time. Additional ongoing capital investments would also be required to address the repair and replacement of facilities and park amenities located within the district.
3. Detachment/Annexation of all Valley-Wide LMDs in Menifee The final option would involve moving forward with the detachment/annexation of all three LMDs: Menifee Parks, Menifee North, and Menifee South. This would require a LAFCO detachment/annexation application as well as Proposition 218 elections for the North and South LMDs, with associated one-time election costs estimated between $40,000 and $100,000 per district in addition to staff time and legal costs.
This option would also require an estimated ongoing General Fund obligation of close to $1.5 million annually in addition to the existing property tax assessments. Additional ongoing capital investments would be required to address the repair and replacement of facilities and park amenities located within each district. If successful, this option would provide uniformity and full local control of all parks within the City, but it also carries the greatest fiscal and procedural challenges.
Staff is requesting policy direction from the City Council on which path to pursue at this time to guide next steps. The options outlined above represent distinct approaches with varying fiscal, operational, and procedural implications. Based upon the direction provided by the City Council, staff would either initiate discussions with Valley-Wide to strengthen existing partnership efforts, begin preparing materials for a partial annexation of the Menifee Parks LMD, or move forward with the application process for full detachment/annexation of all three LMDs.
Should the City Council choose to move forward with options two or three outlined above, staff would initiate discussions with LAFCO and Valley-Wide and prepare a resolution approving the submittal of the LAFCO detachment/annexation application to be adopted by the City Council at a future meeting.
STRATEGIC PLAN OBJECTIVE
Community Engagement and Social Infrastructure
FISCAL IMPACT
The full fiscal impacts of the three options presented for consideration vary significantly and would require additional analysis. Table 1 below contains a summary of the estimated fiscal impacts associated with each option. It is important to note that these estimates only address the one- time costs associated with the detachment/annexation process and ongoing maintenance costs that exceed the existing property tax assessments and do not account for the capital costs that City of Menifee Staff Report
VWRPD Landscape Maintenance District Discussion
October 1, 2025
3 0
0 3
would be required to address the ongoing repair and replacement of facilities and park amenities located within each district.
TABLE 1 – FISCAL IMPACT SUMMARY
Should the City Council choose to move forward with option two or three as outlined above, funding from other areas within the adopted budget would need to be reallocated to support this effort. Staff would return at a future City Council meeting with any required budget amendments.
ATTACHMENTS
1. September 22, 2025, Joint City Council/PRTC Workshop Presentation
2. LAFCO Procedural Diagram
Option
Estimated
Annual
GF Impact
One-Time Costs Other Considerations
Partnership
Approach
Minimal –
Primarily Staff
time for
Coordination
None
Coordination and agreements
only; no annexation or
Proposition 218 vote
required.
Partial
Annexation
(Menifee
Parks)
$647,000+
Annually
LAFCO Application
$40,000+staff time
and legal expenses
No Proposition 218 vote
required. No
growth/escalators in
assessments, General Fund
burden will increase as costs
rise. Capital needs unknown.
Full
Annexation
(All Three
Districts)
$1.5+ Million
Annually
LAFCO
Application/Proposition
218 Proceedings
$200,000+staff time
and legal expenses
Provides full uniformity but
carries highest fiscal and
procedural challenges.
Capital needs unknown.