New Parcel Taxes Would Pass More Easily Under SVUSD-Backed Plan

Fewer voters would need to approve a new local parcel tax for it to go into effect under a constitutional amendment unanimously backed by the Saddleback Valley Unified School District board Tuesday evening.

Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) is pushing the measure that would lower the threshold for passing local parcel taxes from two-thirds of voters to 55 percent. The amendment would need to pass the Senate and Assembly—and a statewide vote—before going into effect.

“We’re a democracy. It should be one person, one vote,” said board president Susie Swartz. “Fifty-five percent is, as a supermajority, more than fair for those who are concerned when the vote doesn’t go their way.”

However, Rob Lange, a parent in the district, asked the board to oppose the measure, saying taxpayers are "already overburdened."

Lange said the school district needs to stop mismanaging the money it does have before asking the taxpayers for more, such as performing expensive renovations to  two years before .

"This resolution is arrogant," Lange said. "It's wrong, and it's another way to get in the pockets of the taxpayers."

Tuesday’s vote does not mean that SVUSD is proposing a parcel tax, or a flat tax on local homeowners and businesses, in the district. 

As written, the amendment would cap any new parcel taxes approved by a 55 percent vote at $250. Districts could exempt senior citizens from the tax.

But, if the amendment passes, several board members indicated they do intend to try and push such a local tax through. 

“This money would stay in our district and help us to maybe put back some programs we’ve had to cut,” said trustee Dennis Walsh. “I would work very hard to get something like this approved.”

“If we’re going to wait around for Sacramento to give us more money, we’re going to die first,” said trustee Dolores Winchell. “The beauty of a parcel tax is it allows us to control our own destiny. It would be up to the community.”

There are about 49,000 parcels within Saddleback Valley Unified, Superintendent Clint Harwick told the board. A districtwide tax of $20 per parcel would bring in nearly $1 million annually, he noted.

Trustee Don Sedgwick said that the state’s education funding formula—set up decades ago when undeveloped South Orange County was a more rural and less moneyed area—leaves Saddleback Valley Unified with less money per student than other Orange County school districts. According to Sedgwick, the old funding scheme means that SVUSD gets $1,000 less per student than Placentia does.

“The answer to the funding problem is it needs to go back to local control,” Sedgwick asserted. “In the absence of completely restructuring [school finance], at least bonds and parcel taxes allow a local community to have some control over raising and spending funds.”

SVUSD joins some 160 other school districts across California that have lent their support to Simitian’s effort.

In other business, the board unanimously rejected an offer to lease the former O’Neill Elementary School campus in Mission Viejo for $10,000 per month—the sole bid received for the site during a Nov. 3 public auction.

Negotiations with several parties who are “very interested” in leasing O’Neill—as well as the vacant Aliso Elementary in Lake Forest and a surplus warehouse in Mission Viejo—are ongoing, said Jeff Starr, district business director.