Hart Trustees Dissolve Tax District Formed to Build School

Santa Clarita school officials are wondering how they will finance a new high school with the dissolution of a special tax district that would have raised more than $2 million for the facility, an official said Wednesday.

A dispute over development taxes moved William S. Hart Union High School District trustees to dissolve the special district Tuesday night, Superintendent Clyde Smyth said.

Smyth said the demise of the tax district will have a domino effect throughout the Santa Clarita Valley because the new continuation high school is part of an overall plan to make room for a rapidly growing student body.

The current continuation school, Jereann Bowman High School, is next to Canyon High School. When the new campus is built, Canyon High will expand onto the old Bowman site.

Continuation School

A continuation school serves students who are disciplinary problems, require special counseling or are at risk of dropping out.

The dispute centered on voter-approved development taxes, which the state Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional in February. The taxes, about $6,300 on each new residential unit, were approved by Santa Clarita Valley voters in June, 1987.

Several developers, including Warmington Homes and M.J. Brock & Sons, agreed to pay the taxes before the high court’s ruling. But last month, Warmington said it would not pay $580,000 in taxes after all.

Brock paid the taxes under protest. Company officials also reserved the right to recoup the money in court. Brock paid $301,485 to Hart and $247,648 to the Saugus Union Elementary School District. Unlike Warmington, Brock had signed a contract agreeing to pay the taxes.

Smyth said Brock’s protest essentially froze the funds because the district could not spend the money under the shadow of a lawsuit. In retaliation, the Hart and Saugus trustees refused this month to issue building certificates that would have let Brock begin building a 121-unit low-income housing project in Saugus.

But last Wednesday, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered the districts to release the building certificates.

Smyth said the departure of Warmington and a possible lawsuit by Brock left trustees no choice but to disband the tax district. The third company in the tax district, Anden Homes, is still committed to paying about $1.2 million to build schools, he said.

May 9 Vote

Hart trustees will vote to formally dismantle the tax district May 9. Meanwhile, the school district will hold on to the $301,485 Brock already paid, Smyth said. “They’re going to have to sue to get their money,” he said.

Robert Garcin, general counsel for Brock, said the company has not decided whether to go after the money in court. “Until a court tells them to give it back, they are entitled to the money,” he said.

Garcin said that in addition to the disputed taxes, Brock also paid without protest a combined $256,561 to the Hart and Saugus districts in accordance with state-mandated school building fees.

Officials from Santa Clarita’s five school districts have long said that such fees, which equal $1.53 for each square foot of new construction, are inadequate. The officials had hoped the voter-approved taxes would become the cornerstone of their school construction program.