PORT HUENEME : Panel to Study Use of ‘View Tax’ Law

A state Senate committee will consider whether local governments have abused a 19-year-old law under which Port Hueneme imposed special assessments on beach homes based on their view of the ocean.

In an oversight hearing Wednesday, the Local Government Committee will review the law’s use by several cities and school districts accused of violating the intent of the Lighting and Landscaping Act of 1972.

The local governing bodies, hamstrung by Proposition 13 limits on tax increases, imposed assessments on property owners to pay for services previously financed by general tax revenues.

“These are new uses that obviously circumvent the original intent,” said Thomas Martin, an aide to state Sen. Robert G. Beverly (R-Manhattan Beach), who authored the act in the Assembly. “The Legislature is going to be looking at a quick remedy in January.”

Although the committee staff has invited critics to testify, no invitation was extended to Port Hueneme city officials, City Manager Richard Velthoen said.

“I don’t see how they are going to discuss it if they aren’t going to talk to us,” Velthoen said. “This is typical of Sacramento’s ability to deal in a vacuum.”

“A registered civil engineer who has certified over 300 of these assessment districts said ours meets the criteria of the law,” Velthoen added. “Everything we did was perfectly within the language of the act.”

The city in July imposed $150,000 in assessments on beach-area properties to offset maintenance costs at Hueneme Beach Park. Several homeowner groups filed suit to overturn the annual assessments of $66 to $184 per residence.

Under the law, affected property owners can force a local governing body to approve the assessments by a minimum 80% vote if more than half submit individual written or oral protests.

The Port Hueneme council certified that half the district’s 1,250 homeowners protested, though the number may have been far smaller, and then voted 4 to 0 for the assessment without comment.

Corrective legislation could require the governing bodies to get a two-thirds referendum vote--as is needed to exceed Proposition 13 property tax limits--rather than override a majority protest, Martin said.

“If they think the voters want a service, then they ought to be able to sell it at the ballot,” Martin said. “To do otherwise flies in the face of the will of the people.”