Bradbury Estates’ Private Guards Cost County $417,000 : Audit: Money that should have gone into the general fund and to other agencies was instead funneled to a special tax district that should have been dissolved in 1983.

More than $417,000 in county property taxes that would have gone to the county general fund and other public agencies instead paid for private security guards in an upscale Bradbury neighborhood over the last 14 years, an independent audit revealed.

The money flowed to a special tax district set up in 1973 by homeowners in the gated San Gabriel Valley enclave of Bradbury Estates. Although the homeowners initially paid for the services in additional taxes, after Proposition 13 the money came from a general property tax pool, accountant Donald L. Parker told the Bradbury City Council on Tuesday.

The special tax district had a five-year life span and was renewed in 1978, but it should have been dissolved in 1983, Parker said. The county, however, continued to disburse money for the guard service as it did for other special districts.

“District 1A did exceed its established life by eight or nine years,” Parker said. “We believe that’s probably just due to the situation of the county of Los Angeles not expecting special districts to terminate. Normally . . . water treatment districts, airport districts, go on for infinity.”

The county should have detected the oversight, said Sarah Flores, assistant chief deputy to Supervisor Mike Antonovich, whose district includes Bradbury. The revelations indicate that other county tax money may still be used for questionable purposes, she added.

“I’m really surprised something wasn’t done,” she said. “I think that after Prop. 13, there were a lot of issues that weren’t properly checked.”

Before Proposition 13, the districts assessed property owners within their areas for special services. Proposition 13 limited property taxes to 1% of market value. Shortly afterward, the county set up tax pools that distributed money to those districts by region.

If the Bradbury Estates district had been dissolved after Proposition 13 and residents behind the gates had paid for their guards with homeowners’ association fees, the county general fund would have received an additional $151,000, the county consolidated fire protection district would have gotten $54,000, the Duarte Unified School District $79,000, and the city of Bradbury $27,000 during the 14-year period, Parker told the council. Twelve other agencies would have gotten smaller shares, said Parker, an accountant with the Whittier firm of Lance, Soll & Lunghard.

Flores said the county should initiate a review of all special districts to determine which are deserving of funds, which should be cut off and which should be consolidated.

Flores said private guard service should never have been considered a public service.

Bradbury Estates is home to about 100 of the city’s 830 residents. The median household income for the city in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains was $105,178 in 1990, according to the U.S. Census.

The City Council dissolved the special district in March after a City Hall critic raised a public outcry and returned $6,500 to the county that had been received for District 1A since the beginning of this year.

Councilman John H. Richards, who represents Bradbury Estates and who served as mayor for six years, insisted at Tuesday’s council meeting that the homeowners association was considering dissolving the district before the public outcry in acknowledgment of dwindling county and state money. Councilwoman Beatrice LaPisto-Kirtley, however, said: “Nothing was ever discussed by the City Council as far as doing away with District 1A prior to (the citizen) bringing it up.”

According to Parker’s report, the city tried to keep the guards from becoming a public burden by asking the county auditor controller to assess an override tax on the district.

“This would appear to have been the proper way to handle the district,” Parker’s report said. But the county rejected the request, apparently because Proposition 13 allowed additional taxes without a special vote only for voter-approved bonds or other indebtedness, the letter indicated.

Since the district was dissolved earlier this year, about 80% of the homeowners in Bradbury Estates have been paying for the guards through extra homeowners fees. The homeowners association has hired a private attorney to help it place a flat-rate direct assessment on the tax rolls to pay for the guard service.

But County Assistant Auditor-Controller J. Tyler McCauley said guard service would probably not be considered a public service worthy of a direct assessment.