MOORPARK : Planned Assessment Zone Payments Cut

After pledging some of the city’s money, Moorpark city officials have been able to reduce estimated payments in a proposed assessment district by as much as 50%.

Council members Wednesday said they were able to reduce payments charged the eight property owners by contributing nearly $426,791 in city funds to the district.

“Once we looked in some more detail, it was apparent that the city should pay some of the money for these improvements,” Mayor Paul Lawrason said Thursday.

Earlier this month, property owners lashed out against the proposed assessments. Some said the hefty fees would drive them from their homes in the proposed 57.6-acre district, which includes a shopping center under construction on Los Angeles Avenue.

John Fitch, who now pays about $200 a year in property taxes on a third of an acre, would have paid $10,000 a year for the next 20 years under the original assessment plan. Now he is slated to pay $4,500 a year and hopes for an even greater reduction as negotiations proceed.

“They’re being as good as they can about it,” Fitch said. “Somebody’s got to pay for it and they’re trying to decide who.”

The proposed assessment district would fund $5 million worth of road widening, storm drain installation and two traffic lights.

Councilmen Scott Montgomery and John Wozniak, who met with property owners before the council meeting Wednesday, will return to the full council Feb. 3 with the results of further meetings.