Sea Levy : Port Hueneme Considers Taxing Residents on Basis of Their Ocean Views and Access

Newt Neyer finds the orange and gold sunsets from his oceanfront balcony a pleasure to behold. But the city of Port Hueneme sees green in the view.

To pay for beach upkeep, officials in the financially pinched city are planning to charge beach-area homeowners $66 to $184 a year for their views and ocean access.

The proposed assessments--the first in California based on proximity to sea and sand--would tax a property’s aesthetic value, with homeowners who enjoy a panoramic ocean view paying the highest rate.

In forming the special assessment district, Port Hueneme would employ a technique used by a growing number of California cities strapped for revenue because of the stalled economy, dwindling state and county aid, and the constraints on taxation mandated by Proposition 13.

By shifting the cost of specific services, such as street lighting and landscaping, to property owners, cities increasingly are able to use the savings to their general funds for other purposes.

While Port Hueneme’s plan stretches the concept some, several officials of cities and counties along the California coast say they find the notion intriguing.

“We need money. It doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” said Lois Standly, auditor-controller for Del Norte County, the state’s northernmost coastal county.

“It’s certainly creative, though I’m not sure we would try it here,” Laguna Beach Mayor Neil Fitzpatrick said.

Others said it may be only narrowly skirting state codes governing assessment districts, traditionally formed to pay for public amenities that benefit specific neighborhoods.

“It’s a can of worms,” said Jack Steineger, Santa Barbara County’s assistant auditor. “What is the benefit to each property owner as a result of the city providing beach cleanup? It has to be a tangible benefit.”

The proposal has many of Port Hueneme’s 1,200 beach-area homeowners crying foul. They contend that the city is discriminating against its wealthiest property owners rather than making beach-goers pay a user fee.

“We shouldn’t be penalized because the city needs to keep the beach clean,” said Neyer, a 63-year-old retired businessman who would pay $171 annually for the view of Anacapa and Santa Cruz islands from his two-bedroom condominium.

“We don’t use that beach 20 minutes a month,” said Neyer, who lives most of the year in Woodland Hills.

City officials decided that beach-area homeowners, rather than all property owners, should be charged for landscaping and cleanup of Hueneme Beach Park because their houses are worth more because of the proximity to the coast. They also are spared daily beach parking fees.

The graduated assessments would be highest on beachfront homes and condominiums. Homes with obstructed ocean views would pay about a third less, while those with no view, but within two blocks of the beach, would be charged the least. The size of each residence would be factored into the rate.

The City Council is scheduled to vote this month on the proposed beach-maintenance district, which would raise $150,000 toward the $425,000 annual cost of beach upkeep, said Jim Hanks, the city’s finance director.

The home of the U.S. Naval Construction Battalion Center and the only deep-water port between Los Angeles and San Francisco, Port Hueneme has the second-lowest taxes per capita of Ventura County cities.

Its complex of beachfront homes and low-rise condominiums was built during the last two decades as part of redevelopment of its once-blighted beach area, where some homes had no plumbing and dirt floors.

Nearly half of the condominiums are weekend retreats owned by Los Angeles residents, many of them from the San Fernando Valley, according to city estimates. Only 25% are owner-occupied, said City Manager Dick Velthoen, one of the architects of the so-called view tax.

Velthoen dismissed the arguments of many beach homeowners that they are being unfairly taxed because they rarely use the beach. “I suppose they bought here just for the salt air,” Velthoen said.