The California, Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000 (CKH Act) codified and implemented the recommendations made by the California Commission on Local Governance for the 21st Century in its report “Growth Within Bounds”. This included a new process for Local Agency Formation Commissions (LAFCO) to review municipal services on a regular basis. Specifically, the CKH Act requires that effective January 2000, each (LAFCO) update all Spheres of Influence (SOI) as necessary; but in any case, not less than every five years. This requires that all SOIs be updated by January 2006. A critical element in the process of creating or updating an SOI is the Municipal Service Review (MSR).

ESCI provides a comprehensive Municipal Service Review that meets statutory requirements. At a minimum, an ESCI Municipal Service Review addresses the following objectives:

  • Infrastructure needs or deficiencies.
  • Growth and population projections for the affected area.
  • Financing constraints and opportunities.
  • Cost avoidance opportunities.
  • Opportunities for rate restructuring.
  • Opportunities for shared facilities.
  • Government structure options, including advantages and disadvantages of the consolidation or reorganization of service providers.
  • Evaluation of management efficiencies.
  • Local accountability and governance.
  • Evaluation of current station site, resource deployment, and corresponding resource time performance.
  • Estimate the capital and operating cost impact of potential changes.