The Sweet Things in Life Will Cost You Dearly : Taxes: If Port Hueneme can tax ocean views, what will assessment districts zero in on next?

The Port Hueneme City Council has passed a tax on ocean views to offset its city budget crunch. Assessments to pay for beach upkeep would vary depending on how close the homeowner is to the strand. City officials think this makes sense, considering the market value of the breathtaking views of the Channel Islands from the beachfront. The question is, will the Port Hueneme residents have a rebate coming on foggy days?

It seems there is no end to the expanding use of assessment districts in the hands of bureaucrats. Assessments districts are revenue devices, historically used to pay for capital improvements, from Roman roads to medieval English seawalls to California irrigation projects of the early 1900s.

The creative use of assessments for maintenance and services has mushroomed in recent years because they have been ruled outside Proposition 13’s restrictions. Although the assessments are levied against property and appear on the property tax bill, on the theory that the property benefits from the new greenbelt or updated street lighting, the assessment is not counted against Proposition 13’s 1% property-tax limit. Nor is a vote of the people required before assessments are levied. Both characteristics put assessments at the top of city hall wish lists.

Benefit assessments have stretched like Pinocchio’s nose beyond their original size and intent. Recently, school districts were advised that they, too, can use special tax assessments to build and maintain pools, play yards and the like under the Landscaping and Lighting Benefit Assessment Act. This “discovery” flashed around the state over computer networks and instantly found itself No. 1 on school-board agendas. The act assumes that the schools’ neighbors will receive benefits from these facilities and well-kept yards--that is, if they can climb over the locked fences in the dead of night.

It’s anybody’s guess where this will end.

If Port Hueneme officials get away with their ocean-view assessment, up and down the coast we may soon see toll booths collecting fees for a peek at the ocean. Taking deep breaths of salt air would merit a surcharge.

If assessments are appropriate for ocean views, why not assessments for certain city views? Doubters should remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder who sets the rates.

There could be an assessment on mountain views for those in Los Angeles. There would be a smog discount, of course, for the days the Hollywood sign is lost in the haze or altered by pranksters. But, don’t spend that money you get back for the smoggy days--you’ll need it to pay the assessment levied to clear away the smog.

Rationales for assessments appear endless. As long as there is a remote connection between a taxpayer and the object to be built, protected, maintained, cleaned, observed or enjoyed, there is a potential assessment lurking.

Assessments have gone from land to sea, and probably will turn up in space. Is it so hard to imagine an assessment to protect against a killer asteroid destroying Earth?

One thing is certain: the chances of our wallets getting hit by an assessment district are improving by the day.