PLACENTIA, YORBA LINDA : School Trustee Calls for Tax Increase

Faced with another bleak year of state funding for education, a Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District trustee has proposed placing a property tax assessment on the June ballot to raise about $5 million for the district’s 1992-93 budget.

In a preliminary outline of the proposal by Trustee Bill Kielty, every single-family home or townhouse in the school district would be assessed an additional $100 in property tax. Apartment owners would be assessed $60 per unit, and businesses would be assessed $250 per parcel. The levy would last no more than four years, and the school board could vote to cancel it at any time.

Citing another year of possible layoffs and program cuts because of the state budget shortfall, Kielty outlined plans for the tax in a memo to school board members and administrators earlier this month. Trustees are expected to consider the proposal at a meeting in February.

“The effect of (budget) cuts is frightening to contemplate, would be immensely disruptive and would inflict significant financial inequities on residents of our district,” Kielty said in the memo.

For approval, the proposal would have to be approved by two-thirds of the voters under state guidelines. Over the past year, school districts in the state have placed 13 parcel tax and bond measures on the ballot, and only a handful have passed, Kielty said. Even so, all got more than 50% of the vote, he said.

“There apparently is a high degree of general support for education,” Kielty said in an interview. “It’s tough to get a two-thirds majority, but they will come close.”

Last July, Placentia-Yorba Linda school trustees came under fire for passing a $17-per-home assessment fee to defray the cost of maintaining and landscaping certain school facilities. Many residents who opposed the fees said they wanted an opportunity to decide the matter on their own, and the board repealed its vote.

“People said they wanted a voice in this,” said Karin Freeman, president of the school board. “This is what (Kielty) is trying to do.”

But Freeman said she had doubts that voters would go for the levy, given the state of the economy and the fact that the new tax would be much more than the $17 fee proposed last summer.

“It has all the right reasons, but the timing is just not good,” she said.

Still, Kielty said that if the tax levy makes it to the ballot, supporters could launch a campaign stressing the problems with state funding, the quality of education in the district and the positive impact of schools on property values.

“Our kids achieve well and perform well and I’m scared to death of diluting that with another round of cuts,” he said.

School officials say that Gov. Pete Wilson’s proposed budget would provide only about $29,000 in additional revenue for the district, and Kielty estimated that the district could have to find $6 million in cuts for the next year.

District officials already estimate $2.5 million in additional costs next year. The district management also will engage in talks to renew its teachers contract, and a parcel tax proposal could have an impact on the bargaining process. The union’s 3-year contract runs out at the end of the current school year.