Future Homeowners Would Pay School Tax

The governing board of the Palmdale School District, searching for a new source of funding for school construction, gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a special tax on future housing in the fast-growing district.

The Palmdale School District Board of Trustees set an Aug. 7 public hearing on its proposed Mello-Roos tax district, named for the authors of the 1982 state law that created them.

Under the plan, owners of homes built in the district in the future would pay $400 to $500 a year to start, and the tax would increase with inflation over its 30-year life. The starting annual rate for the tax would be 22 cents per square foot of development. Future condos and apartments also would be taxed.

Although existing homes would be exempt, officials said Palmdale still would be the first school district in Los Angeles County to impose such a districtwide tax on future homes.

The tax could raise up to $300 million, about $118 million for new and refurbished schools and most of the rest for financing costs. The tax is unusual because developers, who own most of the undeveloped land, can vote on whether to accept it. But it would be paid by those who buy homes from them.