Senate OKs Bill Prompted by Tax in Port Hueneme

The state Senate on Thursday unanimously approved legislation that supporters say would limit the ability of cities to follow the example of Port Hueneme and impose a beach-maintenance tax on homes based on their ocean view and beach access.

The Port Hueneme City Council in July voted 4 to 0 to levy the tax despite protests from hundreds of the 1,250 affected homeowners. The state legislation would not retroactively affect Port Hueneme.

Instead, the bill, carried by Sen. Marion Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), would prevent a city council from overriding a protest from a majority of property owners. It was passed by a 35-0 margin and sent to the Assembly.

An aide to Bergeson said the proposal grew out of complaints about the Port Hueneme tax.

Bergeson said her intent is to establish a more equitable system for imposing taxes in the future to maintain beaches. “What’s most onerous with taxes is when people are surprised,” Bergeson said.

Under current law, cities seeking to establish tax-assessment districts are allowed to notify homeowners through newspaper advertisements or mailed notices. Also, if a majority of property owners protest a proposed levy, local officials must abandon the proposal or vote to override the protest.

In addition to forcing cities to directly notify landowners, Bergeson’s measure would make it easier for homeowners to object to the formation of an assessment district. Specifically, the measure would allow a protest to be lodged by homeowners who control a majority of the assessed value of property in a proposed tax district, instead of those who own more than 50% of the area.

Port Hueneme City Manager Richard Velthoen, in a telephone interview, said that even if Bergeson’s proposal had been law last year, his city would not have been blocked from imposing the tax.

Velthoen said the Port Hueneme City Council took out newspaper advertisements to alert the public of its intentions. “There was all kinds of adequate notice,” he said.

Even so, Velthoen said, the city did not receive protests from a majority of property owners.

Nevertheless, angry Port Hueneme homeowners have filed a lawsuit challenging the special assessment, which the city hopes will raise $150,000 a year to help pay beach maintenance costs. The estimated average annual cost per affected homeowner would be $131.

The Bergeson bill is supported by Cal Tax, a business-oriented watchdog group. According to a Senate analysis of the measure, Cal Tax believes that “the bill would prevent local officials from ignoring majority protest . . . and should help foster more trust between local officials and the persons they represent.”

The proposal is opposed by the League of California Cities, which objects to the provision in the measure repealing the ability of cities to override a protest from homeowners.