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DOWNTOWN OAKLAND HARDSHIP REIMBURSEMENT POLICY

The Downtown Oakland Association, administrator for the Downtown Oakland Community Benefit District hereby adopts the following policy regarding hardship exemption or reduction to annual CBD assessments.. WHEREAS there are currently no exemptions listed in the Management District Plan for the Downtown Oakland CBD, and WHEREAS the Downtown Oakland Association seeks to improve the Downtown Oakland area with the special benefits funded from the new CBD, however, does not seek to create hardship for disabled, senior or other individuals, non-profit/tax-exempt organizations or those property owners who currently lack the means to pay into the Downtown Oakland Community Benefit District; and WHEREAS the Downtown Oakland Association seeks to build vast community support for the programs that the CBD will fund, and WHEREAS the Downtown Oakland Association Board has the ability to address the "economic hardship" concerns raised by property owners in the community through the Boards own internal policies as they relate to the CBD operations; and WHEREAS we believe that those who derive benefit, regardless of ownership, should pay into the district however may not be able to afford all or partial annual assessments paid into the Downtown Oakland CBD; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED That the Downtown Oakland Association will adopt a "CBD Economic Hardship Reimbursement Policy" which shall provide a procedure for seeking annual economic relief to specific property owners within the Downtown Oakland Community Benefit District. Any consideration of hardship reimbursement would be affective for one year at a time. The Organization Committee may also request documentation to validate the
DOWNTOWN OAKLAND ASSOCIATION
388 19th Street Oakland, California 94612 Phone 510.238.1122 Fax 510.452.4529 mail@downtownoakland.org www.downtownoakland.org

claim for economic hardship by the applicant. The CBD Economic Hardship Reimbursement Policy shall work in the following manner: 1. The Board shall authorize the Organization/Executive Committee to receive written requests for temporary relief from the CBD assessments. The Committee shall create a form that explains the process for application for economic hardship to the CBC. 2. The impacted applicant property owner shall make a written request for reimbursable relief to the Committee. The Downtown Oakland Association shall only reimburse, not pre-pay, assessments into the Downtown Oakland CBD. The Organization Committee shall review the request for reimbursement and make one of the following recommendations to the full Board of Directors for consideration: a. That the reimbursement be granted in the full amount of the CBD assessment for that year only; b. That partial reimbursement be granted, based upon a flat fee or percentage of the full CBD assessment be granted for that year only; c. That the Organization Committee may set a maximum, not to exceed amount assigned to every applicant property owner; d. That the Org Committee may request in kind services for the reimbursements under consideration, for example rental space for equipment and supplies; e. That there shall be a 60 day period from the date the assessment was due, for each application to submit their consideration of hardship reimbursement; 3. The Organization/Executive Committee shall make its recommendations to the full Board of Directors based upon the following criteria: a. Determination that the request for reimbursement relief is based upon genuine economic hardship and inability to absorb the CBDs annual costs. b. That the CBD assessments have already been paid, along with County property taxes (or directly billed by the City) and that the reimbursement has been made by the applying party based upon documentation of that payment; (cancelled checks, paid receipt by the County, etc.); c. That the Committee has been satisfied that the hardship application is justified based upon documentation presented or any presentation made by the applying party. d. That the application was submitted within 60 days of the assessment payment;

4. The recommendation of the Committee is advisory to the Board of Directors. The Board must accept the Committee's recommendation by majority vote. 5. The Board has the option to accept the recommendations as made, modify them or reject them or sent them back to the Organization Committee based upon specific instructions; 6. The actions of the Board on the issue of economic hardship are final and cannot be appealed to any other body.

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