Like many Mountain View residents, we have been extremely disappointed in the way attorney Aaron Katz has mounted a series of legal attacks against the taxing mechanisms used by a local school or college districts and El Camino Hospital.
Katz, who lives in Saratoga but owns property in Mountain View, claims he is disenfranchised when he is not able to vote on a school parcel tax or hospital bond issue that taxes his property. One of his suits, against the Mountain View-Whisman School District, was tossed out on a technicality, but so far, none of the four lawsuits he has filed has lost on the merits. The actions have thrown a monkey wrench into the legal and financial underpinnings of several special districts in the area, and casts a cloud over similar taxing efforts at hundreds of others around the state.
But then last week Katz — who has railed against the unfairness of case law allowing only residents of a district to vote on property tax measures in that district — gave up his fight with El Camino Hospital in return for $200,000. As part of the deal, Katz apparently agreed not to challenge the bonds again. For the hospital, which was facing a May 10 deadline to accept a $480 million construction bid or see its costs rise by $30 million or more, the payoff was a no-brainer.
On the other hand, by paying Katz $200,000, the hospital appears to be a willing extortion victim, easy prey for anyone who can get a judge to hear a challenge to property tax law that has stood for many years. When his first suit was filed, Katz claimed he was fighting an unfair tax. But by walking away with $200,000, Katz has shown his true colors: He is simply in it for the money.
There are other concerns about the settlement:
* Both sides in the case stipulated that the terms of the deal would not be disclosed, meaning residents of the district will never know the details of how their $200,000 was spent.
* By acting alone, the hospital has done nothing to help resolve two other Katz cases pending against the Mountain View-Whisman School District and the Campbell Union High School District. (Katz settled a case against West Valley-Mission Community College District for $60,000 in December.)
As we have said in this space before, it is astonishing that the long-established case law that governs parcel tax and municipal bond elections has been so vulnerable to the relatively simple case mounted by Katz. Ed Steinman, professor of law at Santa Clara University, told the Voice last week, “I don’t think they should have given him a cent. His lawsuit was frivolous.”
It may be frivolous, but in about a year and a half, an unknown from Saratoga has managed to hold up approval of parcel taxes or bond levies in four jurisdictions so that he can avoid paying the tax on his own property. The courts or the legislature need to resolve this issue soon, or Mr. Katz will continue to file his lawsuits, and laugh all the way to the bank.
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