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Parcel tax to aid community college district

by Nick Veronin

Officials of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District say Measure E, a parcel tax on the November ballot, will provide them with much needed revenues to provide educational services to local students seeking affordable higher education.

The parcel tax, if approved, would cost property owners in the college district up to $69 per parcel annually for six years and raise about $42 million total, according to Becky Bartindale, a spokeswoman for the district.

In order to pass, Measure E must receive two-thirds of the vote.

Both Foothill and De Anza colleges have seen more than $20 million in cuts over the past two years, Bartindale said, and courses, faculty and staff have all be cut as a result.

Bruce Swenson, president of the college district's board of trustees, is hopeful that the measure will get the votes as it will help the cash-strapped district serve more students at a time and in an economy when he says higher education is especially important.

"It will be of significant help to the district," Swenson said. "It will help maintain core academic classes in science, math and writing, and also continue job training for health care professionals, such as nurses and paramedics, and prepare students for transfer."

The Foothill-De Anza Community College District covers the cities of Mountain View, Palo Alto, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Cupertino and Sunnyvale.

Posted by KD, a resident of the Waverly Park neighborhood, on Oct 17, 2010 at 9:23 pm

New parcel taxes (and new assessment)should only be paid by owners of property whose assessed (property) value is less than its market value and are therefore paying taxes based on an "old" Prop 13 assessment.

Example

If you own a property with a market value of $650,000, but pay less than $6,500 a year in property taxes and assessments (due to having an "old" Prop 13 assessment), you would pay any new parcel taxes and assessments that get approved - until such time as your total tax bill was equal to 1% of the market value of the property. Property taxes, parcel taxes and assessments would be capped at 1% of market value for "old" assessments.

If you own a property worth $650,000 and pay over $6,500 in taxes, you would not be responsible for paying any new parcel taxes or assessments.

The current MV assessment rate is approximately 1.10%, so the tax bill for a property assessed at a market value of $650,000 is approximately $6,565. Property owners with "current" assessments would continue to take their lumps, paying property taxes, existing parcel taxes and existing assessments at current rates - but they would not be responsible for any new parcel taxes or assessments.