Bill Would Boost School Bond Issue : Assembly OKs Simi Loan Relief

A bill that would give the Simi Valley Unified School District more time to pay off a state building loan and put a better face on a $35-million bond issue, to be voted on April 12, easily passed the Assembly Thursday.

The bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), would authorize the state Allocations Board to allow the Simi Valley school district to pay off its remaining debt on a loan for school buildings over six years instead of three.

Wright’s bill, co-authored by state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia), was passed 68 to 2 by the Assembly.

If the bill eventually is signed, district officials said, they will be able to tell Simi Valley residents that a vote for the bond issue is a vote for a tax-rate decrease.

However, taxpayers could wind up paying almost the same tax rate if the bond issue passes.

“The most important thing at this time is to allow Simi Valley to be able to go to their voters and present the bond issue in the most favorable light,” Wright said.

Wright placed the bill on a fast track through the Assembly by persuading the Rules Committee to waive certain procedural requirements, such as one that a bill be in print for 30 days before being heard in committee. Wright wants to push the bill through the Senate in the same manner so it could become law before April 12, when the $35-million bond issue is to go before Simi Valley voters.

The bill is an emergency measure that would become effective immediately upon signing by Gov. George Deukmejian.

But extension of the repayment period would only become effective if the bond issue passes.

If that happens, each taxpayer’s contribution to pay off the current loan would be reduced from 12 cents for each $100 of assessed property value over three years to 6 cents for each $100 over six years.

Bond Issue Rate

If the bond issue passes, however, each taxpayer could have to pay as much as 5 cents for each $100 of assessed property--which, added to the 6 cents, would make the tax rate 11 cents per $100 of valuation.

Supt. John Duncan said that the bond issue is one of the most vital in his 14-year tenure and that the money it generates would be used for badly needed repairs of air-conditioning units, cracked schoolyards, gopher-ridden playing fields and many other problems at the district’s 27 aging schools.

Duncan said introducing the bill to extend the loan repayment period is “an integral part of the rehabilitation bond issue. If we hadn’t taken this action, certainly the bond issue would have raised taxes.

“We have really done our best to make it a good business proposition for the taxpayers,” he said.