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CITY, COUNTY, SCHOOL, COMMUNITY COLLEGE AND OTHER LOCAL REVENUE DISTRICTS ARE ALREADY FINANCIALLY SUPPORTED BY LOCAL PROPERTY OWNERS! |
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Welcome to the Silicon Valley Property Taxpayers’ Association - Property Owners Already Pay for Local Government portion of our Web Site. Your local school, community college, library, open space, county, city and other special revenue districts fail to share with you that a very good percentage [many times a majority] of its revenues already come directly from local property taxes! According to the Santa Clara County Controller’s Office [“the Controller”] the property taxes local homeowners pay are “allocate[d]...to [various] local taxing agencies, including...schools and special districts” [for a useful resource that helps explain the manner in which local property taxes are allocated to various revenue districts, you’re invited to click here]. Last year, for instance, the Campbell Union High School District [“the district”] received nearly $43.5 Million in local ad valorem property taxes just from parcels located within its boundaries! This was 80% of all revenue received from all sources, and over thirteen times what it received from the State! And as assessed valuations increase [as they inevitably do], so does the funding each special district realizes from the taxes local property owners pay. Translation: the funding all local agencies of the State receive from local property owners continues to increase! To determine the percentage increase, one need only examine the Santa Clara County Assessor’s figures. Each year the Assessor publishes an annual report which “details the assessment roll [e.g., total assessed valuation] for Santa Clara County” as a whole, as well as the various individual cities within the County (see page 10). In the last ten years the assessment roll for Santa Clara County as a whole has more than doubled (see page 7)! Although figures for individual revenue districts [like the district] are not readily ascertainable [at least] online [only because it they’re not a “city” nor “county”], reasonably deducible inferences from the figures that are online can be made. Thus for the latest fiscal year [2006-07], the increase in the assessment roll countywide totaled 9.07% [see page 7]. But within this figure there were wide differences from community-to-community (see page 8). So for those revenue districts within the City of Milpitas, the yearly increase was only 3.62%. But for those within the City of Mountain View, the yearly increase was a whopping 11.16%! It turns out that for the district, the yearly increase was a healthy 9.73%! Thus from the foregoing we can conclude that the amount of revenue the district has received from local homeowners over the last ten years, just from ad valorem taxes, has increased by the County’s average; 10% per annum! Stated differently, even if the rate of increase slowed to zero [something which in the last ten years has never occurred], the revenue the district received directly from local property owners would still be twice as much as just ten years ago! But it’s not just ad valorem property taxes the district receives from property owners. In 2004 the district levied an additional $85/year parcel tax [former Measure M] against all non-exempt parcels within its boundaries. According to the Controller the additional revenue the district realized in 2005-06 from property owners only, totaled $4,887,558; 11.2% more than local property owners paid in ad valorem taxes. But it’s not just ad valorem property and parcel taxes the district receives from local property owners. In November of 1999 voters approved former Measure C which for forty years [until 2033] taxes local property owners only sums necessary to pay the servicing and repayment costs associated with $95 million of district facilities bonds. According to the Controller, in 2005-06 local property owners paid the district an additional $6,073,872; nearly 14% more than they paid the district in ad valorem taxes. And if the district gets its way, in addition to all of the foregoing, local property owners only will end up paying an additional $3 Million/annually from a statewide parcel tax [Proposition 88] it supports. And notwithstanding the foregoing, the local tax, bond or special assessment measure which has brought you to this web site asks local homeowners to contribute even more! The district has proposed that until 2046, local property owners only repay an additional $90 million in new “creatively” labeled property taxes as a result of its Measure G. According to Superintendent Farber’s Tax Rate Statement, local property owners, on average, will pay as much as an additional $63.67 annually [$14.85 for each $100,000 of assessed valuation (although this sum will increase approximately 2% yearly)]. And what are local non-landowners [45% or more of all residents] compelled to pay the district? NOTHING! If you agree local ballot measures that further tax property are unfair because local homeowners through their property taxes already provide the overwhelming majority of local revenue district direct funding and non-landowning residents pay nothing, we urge you to VOTE NO on the new special tax/bond/assessment measure[s] that have brought you to this web site! Should you have questions or comments, please address them to Silicon Valley Property Taxpayers’ Association at: |
