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What had been a contentious – and at times acrimonious – series of negotiations over how to split millions of dollars in public funding appeared to resolve quietly on Thursday night, when Mountain View Whisman’s school board unanimously approved a 10-year extension to a revenue sharing agreement for the Shoreline special tax district.
At the May 29 meeting, it took the school board less than three minutes to vote to approve the agreement, which provides for Mountain View Whisman to continue to receive a share of property tax revenue from the tax district through June 30, 2035. The Mountain View Los Altos High School District is also a party to the deal and would continue to receive payments, subject to its board’s approval.
Mountain View Whisman expects to receive roughly $7.57 million in fiscal year 2025-26, while MVLA’s estimated payment is $4.85 million.
Mountain View Whisman’s smooth approval on Thursday stood in stark contrast to a year ago, when the district’s board unexpectedly voted to approve an agreement that didn’t match the terms the city had on the table at the time. That decision set off a public back-and-forth between the city and district, with city staff calling the district’s decision “incomprehensible” and the issue becoming a major topic of discussion in the lead up to last fall’s school board election.
Mountain View Whisman ultimately relented and the school board voted in October to accept the terms of a three-year extension. That still left open the question of whether the parties would reach a longer-term agreement, which has long been a stated goal.
On Thursday, that deal appeared to come to fruition, with Mountain View Whisman signing onto a 10-year agreement. MVLA’s board, as well as the City Council, acting in their capacity as the Shoreline tax district’s board, both tentatively expect to take a vote next month.
City of Mountain View spokesperson Lenka Wright said that the city proposed the decade-long deal to provide financial certainty to the three agencies.
At issue is how to split property tax revenue from the Shoreline Regional Park Community, a special tax district that covers much of the city north of Highway 101 and includes lucrative property tax revenue from Google’s headquarters and other tech offices.
The vast majority of that tax revenue is diverted into a special fund that is set aside to maintain and improve the area. The city acts as the steward of the funds, and for roughly two decades has had agreements in place to share revenue with both school districts, although less than they would receive if the tax district didn’t exist.
The new 10-year agreement would largely continue the funding structure that is currently in place. Each year, the school districts would receive a payment based on the amount that they received the prior year, adjusted by the percent change in property tax revenues, excluding new residential development. For new residential development, the districts would receive their full tax allocation, which is in line with a 2019 agreement among the parties.
The agreement also calls for the districts to receive an additional one-time payment this year, equal to 100% of the annual change in property tax revenue.
Mountain View Whisman’s Chief Business Officer Rebecca Westover told the board on Thursday that signing the agreement would guarantee a decade of continued funding.
“This is important for our district,” Westover said. “Without Shoreline, it’s many millions of dollars that we would need to make up.”
The agreement includes language around the issuance of bonds that the district has previously objected to. The deal states that payments to the school districts are “expressly subordinate” to the tax district’s “existing and future debt obligations.”
In the past, Mountain View Whisman has suggested that if enough bonds are issued, the school district’s share of the funding could be at risk. The city has stressed that it needs to be able to issue bonds to pay for improvements within the tax district.
Asked why Mountain View Whisman agreed to the bonding language and to continue largely the same funding structure, Superintendent Jeff Baier told the Voice that it was a recognition “that the district wants to move forward and work in partnership with the city for the betterment of the kids in this school district.”
Although the district still won’t get the full share of funding that it receives from other areas of the city, Baier noted that this agreement will provide stability.
“I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that the school district is still interested in that more robust revenue being generated out of (the tax district), but we recognize that we are where we are, and I think it’s more important to work in partnership with the city,” he said.
As for MVLA, Associate Superintendent Mike Mathiesen said that his district’s staff plans to recommend approval next month, pending the completion of a review by the district’s lawyers. One positive element of the agreement, Mathiesen said, is that the districts will receive their full share of tax revenue from new residential developments.
“We continue to appreciate the ongoing partnership with the city of Mountain View and the Mountain View Whisman School District,” Mathiesen said in an email. “A new agreement provides a level of financial certainty, when it comes to annual revenue from (Shoreline), for the next decade to help with budget development, forecasting and planning.”
For the city’s part, Wright said that the city is in favor of the 10-year extension.
“The City is moving forward with a renewed and more productive partnership with MVWSD,” Wright said via email. “The City has always been and will continue to be a collaborative partner with all the school districts in order to best serve the Mountain View students and community members.”
Congrats to new superintendent Jeff Baier for rebuilding the bridges that Rudolph burned last year. Good to see the district moving forward under his leadership!
I agree with “Really,” the previous commenter. I’m glad the previous Superintendent is gone.
Baier caved. Students are worse off getting a worse share. The city will continue to build housing in Shoreline…and contribute a smaller share of taxes than a home in Old Mountain View. Sad. Absolutely no reason the kids should get less money. Baier just wants to make city friends early on, and this was a cheap way to do it. Maybe he’ll get something else from the city, time will tell.
2min later edit: Sorry, I take back what I said, I was wrong and misread the article above.
all the “infrastructure” they speak of is Pat Showalter’s seawall. That’s really most of the ‘infrastructure’.
The district would get more money if this “special district” didn’t exist. Rudolph understood that and fought for more, but residents celebrate being handed less. 🙄
No, Rudolph did not do this for the children. He was busy lining up funds to subsidize his lavish lifestyle and award contracts to his buddies (while being unchecked by the previous board). He took the community hostage for years, but by all means, keep gaslighting the community.
$7.5M per year is roughly $1M/year more than the city offered last year. This is what good-faith negotiations look like, unlike what the previous leadership (superintendent and some board members) did.
When will Mountain View finally release its update to the “Shoreline Shoreline Community Area Plan”? (plan has not been revised since the early 70s).
At some point, that update had been mentioned as a pre-requsitive to a long term revenue sharing deal.