P.V. Estates Sets Public Hearing on Assessment District

Palos Verdes Estates council members unanimously endorsed a plan to form an assessment district to pay for fire services and eliminate two parcel taxes that residents now pay.

The city has scheduled a public hearing May 28 to hear from any residents opposed to the plan, which would raise nearly $2 million to pay for fire services. The city contracts with Los Angeles County for fire protection services.

If the city receives written protests from less than 5% of the community’s residents, the council has the authority to form the assessment district. If it receives protests from 5% to 33% of the residents, it can either abandon the idea or call an election and let residents decide the matter.

If 33% of the residents file written protests, the council must abandon the plan.

City Manager Jim Hendrickson said the idea behind the assessment district is to do away with the parcel taxes, which must be approved every four years by the city’s voters. The taxes pay a portion of police, fire and park maintenance costs.

City officials have long maintained that because the parcel taxes are subject to voter approval, the city’s fiscal stability would be threatened if one or both of the taxes should ever be voted down. The parcel taxes raise about the same amount of money as the assessment district would.

Under the district, property owners would pay a flat $150 plus slightly more than 8 1/2 cents for every square foot of dwelling on the land. A resident with a 2,400-square-foot home would pay $356.20.

For the 1991-92 fiscal year, each property owner would pay $357 under the parcel tax system.

If approved, the assessment district would last five years. The council or voters would then have to decide whether to continue it.

Council members set a five-year expiration date because that is when the city’s present contract with county fire officials expires, Hendrickson said.