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The Mountain View Whisman school board relented on Thursday, Oct. 17, and agreed to accept the terms of a major revenue sharing agreement with the city of Mountain View that has been the subject of fraught disagreements between the two parties in recent months.
The school board voted 3-1, with Bill Lambert dissenting, to approve a three-year agreement to split property tax proceeds from the Shoreline Regional Park Community, a special tax district in north Mountain View.
Without an agreement in place, the school district risked losing out on roughly $6.5 million that it had banked on receiving this December, which would have created a significant hole in the district’s budget.
“I appreciate the city’s willingness to continue to work towards a long-term successor agreement and I do support approving the three-year contract tonight,” board President Devon Conley said at Thursday’s meeting, adding that the city and district work together across various areas.
The city praised the district’s decision, with city spokesperson Lenka Wright similarly telling the Voice that the city partners with the district on many programs, and that signing the three-year extension is “one more way our agencies can move forward in a productive way together.”
Mountain View Whisman and the city have been in a tense public standoff over the tax district since June, when the school board approved a one-year agreement that didn’t match the terms of the three-year deal the city had on the table. The Mountain View Los Altos High School District, which is also part of the negotiations, signed on to the three-year agreement without incident.
Mountain View Whisman has previously raised objections to the three-year deal, including language that allows the city to issue bonds that would be paid back with proceeds from the tax district. The school district has suggested that if the city issues enough bonds, it could endanger the city’s ability to give the school districts their share of the money. The city has pushed back against this notion and stressed that it needs to be able to issue bonds to pay for improvements within the tax district.
The school district has pressed the city to negotiate a long-term agreement to share revenue from the tax district, but the city has made clear that it won’t enter into those talks until the three-year agreement is signed.
On Thursday, the school board reversed course and agreed to sign the deal without changes.
“Given where things are with the changing board and other things that are going on in the district and staff capacity, I think that we need to accept this three-year agreement,” school board member Laura Blakely said. “I’m hopeful that it doesn’t take the pressure off of the mutual willingness to actually have meetings and discuss finalizing a permanent agreement.”
Mayor Pat Showalter attended Thursday’s meeting and told the school board that the city is working to update its plan for the Shoreline area, with changes expected to come before the City Council in the first half of next year. Once that plan and the three-year deal are executed, she said that the city and school district can work together to reach a long-term agreement “well before” the three-year extension expires in 2027.
“As mayor, I want to assure you of the city of Mountain View’s commitment to work with you and the Mountain View Los Altos (High) School District on this important effort to provide continued funding to the district,” Showalter said.
She also said that the city values teachers and students, and wants to keep providing the district with $6.5 million annually, at a minimum.
The Shoreline tax district has long been a source of disagreements between the city and local school districts. Property tax revenue from within the lucrative tax district, which includes Google’s headquarters and other major tech offices, is diverted into a special fund that the city oversees to maintain and improve the area.
The city has had agreements in place with Mountain View Whisman and the Mountain View Los Altos High School District for nearly 20 years to share some of the revenue, although less than the school districts would receive if the tax district didn’t exist.
The most recent one expired on June 30 of this year. Without another deal in place, the city has said it can’t give money to Mountain View Whisman.
Asked why the district decided to sign onto the three-year agreement now, board President Devon Conley told the Voice that she had reached out to the city earlier this fall to request meetings about a long-term agreement, but that the city was clear that the three-year deal had to be in place first.
“As we approach the end of the year, there is fiscal uncertainty on the horizon,” Conley said. “Making sure we have a budget in place to support our students and our employees and our community is very important to the school board.”
Board member Bill Lambert was the sole “no” vote on the extension. He read a statement arguing that substantial growth in North Bayshore is going to lead to many more students entering the school district. But because of the special tax district, Mountain View Whisman receives less than half of the revenue it would otherwise get from that area, Lambert said.
“For almost 55 years, the Shoreline Community has served as an engine for economic and residential growth throughout Mountain View,” he said. “It’s now time for our local schools to receive their full share of the tax revenues from the Shoreline Community, so that the Mountain View Whisman School District is able to continue to provide the high quality of education that our children and their families deserve.”
People forget that the area up there would not have an office park if it had not been improved by replacing the dump and creating a regional park and other amenities. Only the INCREMENT in value from new development goes to the park district. That reflects the fact that the revenue wouldn’t be there without the services of the special district. And the district does SHARE a good bit of that growth revenue with the school districts involved.
Long, how long does you ride that train for, 200 years? It’s developed. Time to move on.