School board chooses lowest tax School board chooses lowest tax (December 05, 2003)

After ultimatum from Tri-County, $600 is maximum per parcel levy for business

By Julie O'Shea

Caving under the pressure of a landlord advocacy group, the Mountain View-Whisman school board Monday grudgingly signed off on a $1.6 million parcel tax that will go before voters in March.

This is nearly $1.5 million less than what the school district says it needs to maintain essential programs and services, but board trustees said they don't want to risk the heavy opposition they encountered with last June's unsuccessful Measure E campaign.

The tax that will go before voters this spring will be assessed on the size of an individual parcel. Property owners with parcels up to 8,000 square feet will pay $75 a year; parcels from 8,001 to 14,000 will pay $150; 14,001 to 22,000 square feet $200; 22,001 to 28,000 $300; 28,001 to 44,000 square feet $400; and more than 44,000 will pay $600.

The Mountain View-Whisman measure will need a two-thirds vote to win at the polls. Measure E, which would have assessed a 5-cent-per-square-foot tax on all buildings within school district boundaries, failed at the polls by 292 votes.

A representative of the Tri-County Apartment Association -- Measure E's most outspoken critic -- publicly stated Monday that the group would not oppose any new Mountain View-Whisman tax measure, so long as it had a $600 cap and included an exception for contiguous properties. This means that owners whose plots are divided into multiple parcels would only be taxed once.

Contiguous parcels will be assessed a tax based on the total square footage of land. For instance, if a person owns one plot of land with 12 parcels of 8,000-square-foot each, the yearly tax bill would be based on the total square-footage -- 96,000 -- of the land. This property would be in the 44,000-square-footage and up band, which will cost the owner $600 a year. Without this exemption, this property owner would be charged $75 per parcel or $900 a year.

Property owners must apply for this exemption. Seniors will also be able to apply for a parcel tax exemption.

"If you go to a $1,000 (cap) approach, we have serious problems," Bob Hines, CEO of Tri-County, warned school leaders Monday night. "You do not want to incur their (local landlords') wrath."

Added Hines, "We will not oppose a parcel tax if you impose a cap of $600."

Mountain View Chamber of Commerce President Carol Olson made no such promises. She told trustees that she is uncertain how much criticism will follow the district into the March election.

"There is a lot of anxiety within the business community," Olson said during this week's emergency public hearing. "The more you can do to mitigate the fear in the business community, the better."

Parents listening in the audience were audibly upset with the business community's, especially Tri-County's, lack of support for the stronger tax measure district officials say they need to provide services like art, music and counseling.

"I think if this panel caters to the real estate (interests) ... it will be doing great disservice to our children," Jim Zaorski, a Monta Loma Elementary and Crittenden Middle School parent, told the board.

After a three-hour debate on the matter, trustees, making clear that it was not their preference, finally relented and on a unanimous vote, passed a parcel tax structure with a cap of $600.

"I do think the $600 cap is what we will need to pass this," board President Carol Fisher said. "It's not what I want, but it's what I think will work right now.

"I see this as an evolutionary step in the right direction," Fisher added to the nods of her colleagues.

While Superintendent Jim Negri said he would have liked to go out to voters for more funds, he admits that some money is better than no money at all.

"This is one of those all or nothing games," Negri said the day after the board vote. "We have started to take steps in the right direction."

Negri said that even if the measure fails, he doesn't anticipate any teacher layoffs next year. But, Negri, added, this could all change when the state unveils its budget in January.

It will cost the district between $30,000 and $60,000 to place a tax measure on the March ballot.

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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