San Marino : Council Seeks OK on Taxes

The San Marino City Council plans to ask voters in November to renew two special levies used to provide funding for paramedic, police and fire services. A $35-a-year assessment that each property owner pays for paramedic services and a special tax on property that can raise up to $1.9 million a year for police and fire protection will both expire on June 30, 1987.

Council members have not yet decided how much the levies will be and whether to combine both taxes in one measure on the November ballot.

City Manager Brice Stephenson said the police and fire tax for the 1986-87 fiscal year will raise $1.1 million, about 28% of the city’s budget. Owners of the city’s smallest lots will pay about $158 and those with the largest properties will pay about $474 in special police and fire service assessments.

Stephenson said that city officials are awaiting a decision by the California Supreme Court on a lawsuit that challenges the graduated tax as a violation of Proposition 13.