Claremont : Decision on Tax Deferred

After listening to dozens of speakers for and against a tax that would cost the average homeowner $93 the first year, the City Council postponed action on the proposal until 6 p.m. Friday at City Hall.

The proposed landscape and lighting district fee would apply to all private property in the city, including that owned by churches and private schools and colleges, and would produce $1.2 million a year in revenue.

The delay will give the city time to calculate whether opponents have filed protests representing more than half the acreage that the proposal would tax. Even with that, the five-member City Council could establish the district with four favorable votes. No one on the council has spoken against the plan.

City Clerk Barbara Royalty reported at Tuesday night’s council meeting, attended by more than 300 people, that 475 property owners, representing only 2.5% of the assessable property, had filed protests. But during the meeting, Leslie Boring, who has led a campaign against the tax, filed petitions signed by 7,576 residents and property owners.

Officials from the Claremont school board, Chamber of Commerce, Claremont Heritage and League of Women Voters endorsed the assessment district.