Local News in Brief : Newhall Land to Pay $6-Million School Tax
The William S. Hart Union School District will receive about $6 million in school taxes under an agreement approved by district trustees and the Newhall Land and Farming Co.
The agreement, ratified Tuesday night, is the largest in a series of pacts this summer between the Santa Clarita Valley’s single high school district and developers over the payment of taxes approved last summer by voters to finance new school construction.
Superintendent Clyde Smythe said the money will go toward purchasing land for a fourth high school needed to relieve crowding in the 10,000-student district.
The California Building Industry Assn. has filed a lawsuit challenging the taxes, averaging $6,000 a unit, and most developers have refused to pay until the court case is settled.
A few developers, however, have negotiated with the Hart district and the area’s elementary school districts on payment plans for the new taxes.
Under the agreement approved Tuesday, Newhall Land, the area’s largest developer, pledged to pay the school taxes on its 1,800-home North Bridge development north of Newhall Ranch Road. Trustees approved an agreement with M.J. Brock and Sons in which the district will be paid $200,000.
Earlier this summer, trustees approved four agreements with developers totaling about $4 million. Negotiations with other developers are continuing.
Smythe said the land for the Hart district’s fourth high school, which trustees hope to open in 1992, will cost $10 million.
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