Article 3. Revenue Neutrality of California Government Code >> Division 3. >> Title 5. >> Part 3. >> Chapter 4. >> Article 3.

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature that any proposal that includes an incorporation should result in a similar exchange of both revenue and responsibility for service delivery among the county, the proposed city, and other subject agencies. It is the further intent of the Legislature that an incorporation should not occur primarily for financial reasons.
  (b) The commission shall not approve a proposal that includes an incorporation unless it finds that the following two quantities are substantially equal:
  (1) Revenues currently received by the local agency transferring the affected territory that, but for the operation of this section, would accrue to the local agency receiving the affected territory.
  (2) Expenditures, including direct and indirect expenditures, currently made by the local agency transferring the affected territory for those services that will be assumed by the local agency receiving the affected territory.
  (c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), the commission may approve a proposal that includes an incorporation if it finds either of the following:
  (1) The county and all of the subject agencies agree to the proposed transfer.
  (2) The negative fiscal effect has been adequately mitigated by tax sharing agreements, lump-sum payments, payments over a fixed period of time, or any other terms and conditions pursuant to Section 56886.
  (d) Nothing in this section is intended to change the distribution of growth on the revenues within the affected territory unless otherwise provided in the agreement or agreements specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (c).
  (e) Any terms and conditions that mitigate the negative fiscal effect of a proposal that contains an incorporation shall be included in the commission resolution making determinations adopted pursuant to Section 56880 and the terms and conditions specified in the questions pursuant to Section 57134.

By July 1, 2001, the Governor's Office of Planning and Research, in consultation with the Controller, shall convene a task force composed of representatives of cities, counties, special districts, and local agency formation commissions, as nominated by their statewide organizations and associations, with expertise in local government fiscal issues for the purpose of creating statewide guidelines for the incorporation process. The guidelines shall be completed by January 1, 2002, by the Office of Planning and Research and shall serve as minimum statewide guidelines for the incorporation process. The guidelines shall include, but not be limited to, information to assist incorporation proponents to understand the incorporation process, its timelines, and likely costs. They shall also provide direction to affected agencies regarding the type of information that should be included in the comprehensive fiscal analysis of an incorporation, as well as suggestions for alternative ways to achieve fiscally neutral incorporations. The guidelines shall be advisory to the commissions in the review of incorporation proposals.

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature that any proposal that includes the disincorporation of a city result in a determination that the debt or contractual obligations and responsibilities of the city being disincorporated shall be the responsibility of that same territory for repayment. To ascertain this information, the city shall provide a written statement that determines and certifies all of the following to the commission prior to the issuance of a certificate of filing for a disincorporation proposal, pursuant to Sections 56651 and 56658:
  (1) The indebtedness of the city.
  (2) The amount of money in the city's treasury.
  (3) The amount of any tax levy or other obligation due the city that is unpaid or has not been collected.
  (4) The amount of current and future liabilities, both internal debt owed to other special or restricted funds or enterprise funds within the agency and external debt owed to other public agencies or outside lenders or that results from contractual obligations, which may include contracts for goods or services, retirement obligations, actuarially determined unfunded pension liability of all classes in a public retirement system, including any documentation related to the termination of public retirement contract provisions, and the liability for other postemployment benefits. The information required by this paragraph shall include any associated revenue stream for financing that may be or has been committed to that liability, including employee contributions.
  (b) The city shall provide a written statement identifying the successor agency to the city's former redevelopment agency, if any, pursuant to Section 34173 of the Health and Safety Code.