Temple City : L.A. Says Suit Is Invalid

Attorneys for Los Angeles and Los Angeles County are claiming a lawsuit, which challenges the constitutionality of tax distribution methods, is invalid because it asks that county tax officials be ordered to design a new way to allocate tax revenue.

“Were this to happen, each county could devise its own, independent apportionment system,” David Muir, senior deputy county counsel, said in a demurrer filed with Riverside Superior Court.

Temple City, Rancho Cucamonga, Compton, Carson and El Segundo are petitioners in the suit, which charges that the current system unfairly penalizes cities that levied low or no property taxes before Proposition 13.

Los Angeles, Redlands and the counties of Los Angeles and San Bernardino are named as respondents.

The suit, originally filed in San Bernardino Superior Court on April 7, is scheduled to be heard in Riverside on May 26, because Redlands was granted a change of venue to a neutral area.

The proposition, passed in 1978, limited property taxes to 1% of a parcel’s assessed value. State legislation passed to implement it requires that property tax revenue be distributed according to property tax rates before the freeze.

“County officials are only doing what the Legislature has directed them to do,” Muir said in the document. “Petitioners should be suing the state, if anyone.”

The county and Los Angeles also want the case to be combined with lawsuits challenging the same statutes in San Diego and Riverside counties.

In those pending cases, San Diego County is suing the state and Rancho Mirage is suing Riverside County.