Builders Sue to Block School Tax Ballot in Santa Clarita

Two groups representing developers filed suit Friday to block a June election that could cost builders in the Santa Clarita Valley millions of dollars in additional taxes for school construction.

The suit, brought by the California Building Industry Assn. and the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California, seeks to remove the taxation measure from the June 2 ballot. A hearing on the suit against the county registrar-recorder is to be held Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The election would be a rematch of a November election that pitted school districts against home builders in the rapidly growing Santa Clarita Valley. The school districts, which contend that developers aren’t shouldering a fair share of the cost of building new schools, narrowly lost, garnering 61% of the vote in a contest that required a two-thirds majority.

Plan Adopted in January

Builders are challenging the current election bid, again initiated by Santa Clarita Valley school districts, on several fronts. A state school-financing plan adopted in January eliminates the need for an election, because it limits school districts to levying a $1.50-per-square-foot fee on new housing, their suit contends. Moreover, the suit claims, state law requires school districts to obtain legislative approval before submitting tax proposals to the voters.

Spokesmen for the school districts say the current funding arrangement does not prevent them from levying additional taxes. They also claim that state law gives them the authority to hold such elections.

At the heart of the dispute, however, is the problem of setting equitable limits on the responsibilities of developers.

“This is an outgrowth of the total and absolute failure of the county Board of Supervisors to require that development occur simultaneous to or after an infrastructure is provided in the Santa Clarita Valley,” said attorney Alex Bowie, who represents the school districts.

He said developers beat back the last taxation effort through an 11th-hour campaign to “confuse and intimidate” voters. That campaign cost about $230,000.

‘Too Much Solution’

“Nobody’s denying the overcrowding, but this is too much solution for not enough problem,” said Richard Wirth of the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California.

The school levy now costs developers $2,400 for the average Santa Clarita Valley home, Wirth said, and the June tax package could raise that to $6,300.

“The sad part about this,” he said, “is that it wouldn’t be a tax on developers but on new homeowners. This will hit them hard.”

The Santa Clarita Valley is one of the fastest-growing areas in the county. School officials say the student population will double by the year 2000. At least two dozen schools must be built, at a cost of more than $300 million, to accommodate the increase, they say.