New Homeowners Stung by Special Taxes : Levies: Families in many new developments stagger under the cost of add-on charges for roads and other public facilities. What they had paid in older neighborhoods often quadruples upon moving.

When Robert and Leah Morin bought their house in Rancho Santa Margarita two years ago, they knew some of their tax payments would help finance local roads, schools and fire stations. But, they said, they had no idea their 1991 property tax bill could climb to $3,620--four times what they paid in Mission Viejo.

Steve and Martha Badger, who live near the Morins, tell a similar story about their property taxes quadrupling since they moved from an El Toro condominium two years ago.

And in Aliso Viejo, Tom and Robin Ernst complain that fees levied on new home buyers for community facilities has pushed their property tax bill over $2,500, compared to the $800 they paid in Riverside last year.

From Aliso Viejo to Anaheim, from Trabuco Canyon to Huntington Beach, families in many new developments are staggering under the high cost of financing highways and other public facilities. These new homeowners are carrying a burden imposed by Proposition 13, the 1978 property tax reform initiative that eliminated a major source of funds for local governments.

Before the close of escrow, buyers must sign a disclosure form that lists any special tax assessments. But Lisa Sinclair, a neighbor of the Morins, said it’s not easy to make sense of the itemized disclosure--at least not right away.

“When you’re a new homeowner, you get all caught up in the excitement and the amount of money involved doesn’t hit you until later,” Sinclair explained. “It just doesn’t sink in.”

City and county officials are able to add the cost of new facilities to residents’ property tax bills under the little-known Mello-Roos Act. It was adopted by the state Legislature in 1982 to get around Proposition 13, the 1978 law that limited property taxes to 1% of the assessed value, with a maximum increase in assessed value of 2% per year.

While Mello-Roos is not new, the number of jurisdictions using it is increasing, changing the way community facilities are financed. And as communities build out, the “sting” felt by taxpayers reverberates.

Here’s how Mello-Roos works:

Mello-Roos community facility districts are set up in areas to be served by new roads, fire stations, libraries and schools.

The districts are usually created when the land is vacant and there’s only one landowner-developer whose permission is needed. The owner-developer then puts up the land as collateral for bonds, which are sold to pay for new roads and other facilities.

The developer pays off the bonds until home and business owners move in. Then the debt--which usually spans 20 years--is transferred to the newcomers. But because not all of the bonds to finance new community facilities are sold at once, it’s possible for Mello-Roos taxes to go up as much as 4% a year.

“We can’t afford it,” said Martha Badger of Rancho Santa Margarita. “My neighbors say they can’t afford it either and we’re talking about having to move.”

The Badgers and their neighbors were recently stung by a $700 supplemental property tax bill to make up for earlier under-billing by the county tax assessor. Unhappy about lack of notice and other problems with the way the assessor’s office handled the matter, the Badgers are retaliating by circulating a letter of complaint to be forwarded to county officials.

While going through that experience with the assessor’s office, the Badgers and their neighbors started sizing up the impact that Mello-Roos projects have on their tax bills.

“It’s unbelievable,” Steve Badger said. “Never in my wildest imagination did I think we’d be paying all this gar-bage. “

Badger’s basic county property tax levy is about $1,700. Another $700 is split among special add-on assessments for schools, mosquito and flood control, water and sewer bonds. Added to this is $1,300 in Mello-Roos taxes for roads and schools.

Statewide, more than $3 billion in Mello-Roos bonds have been sold to finance new infrastructure. In Orange County, there are 39 Mello-Roos community facilities districts. The total amount of bonded indebtedness has not been calculated, but altogether residents in these districts are paying a total of $37.7 million a year in Mello-Roos taxes.

In some places such as the Robinson Ranch east of El Toro, new home buyers are not paying Mello-Roos taxes because new commercial development is footing the Mello-Roos bill, making it more costly for businesses to locate there.

Rancho Santa Margarita leads the county with 11 Mello-Roos districts.

In District 1, for example, roads financed with Mello-Roos taxes include a portion of the widening of Santa Margarita Parkway, part of the extension of Antonio Parkway, part of the extension of Oso Parkway, as well as several street improvements in or near business parks.

Particularly irritating to some residents is the fact they also are paying part of the cost of the proposed Foothill tollway, which will extend from the Irvine Lake area to San Clemente through Rancho Santa Margarita.

Many prospective home buyers believe that the Foothill tollway will be financed by a combination of developer fees and toll revenue. After all, that’s how developers and the tollway builders have advertised the three toll roads to be built in eastern and southern areas of Orange County.

But when it’s time to close escrow, home buyers suddenly learn that some of the fees added to their regular property tax bill will pay for a 7.6-mile stretch of the Foothill tollway.

Santa Margarita’s District 1 Mello-Roos taxes are also paying for new schools.

County officials defend the tax amounts levied in Mello-Roos districts, citing policies that attempt to restrict financing so that no tax bill for a new home will go above 2% of the assessed valuation. But in Rancho Santa Margarita and other areas such as Coto de Caza, some tax bills have exceeded 2% because of school construction, and sewer and water district fees added after Mello-Roos assessments were levied.

One of the reasons for the sticker shock, said Santa Margarita Co. Vice President Don Moe, is that people come to Rancho Santa Margarita or other planned communities from older neighborhoods in other parts of the county where the tax bills are years behind the true value of the homes.

There’s no alternative, county officials said, without either delaying public works projects for years or going to the voters for tax increases that are rarely approved, or which do not cover all of a community’s needs.