Moorpark Weighs 3 Property Tax Increases

The typical Moorpark homeowner could pay about $35 more in property taxes this year to fund everything from park maintenance to pollution cleanup under measures being considered tonight by the City Council.

Two of the proposed property tax hikes will pay for maintaining the city’s 13 parks as well as the costs of landscaping, lighting and other city services.

If approved, homeowners will pay $51.88 for park maintenance and $37 for lighting and landscaping each year. The fees amount to a $25 increase over last year.

The third assessment is a $10 fee levied by the Ventura County Flood Control District to reduce the amount of pollution running into rivers and the ocean from local storm drains.

Although the city also will incur costs from the federally mandated program, officials decided not to levy an additional assessment earlier this year.

“These assessments are small, but they do add up,” Mayor Paul Lawrason said. “I’m particularly concerned about this federally mandated program. It’s without funding and the cost is a tremendous burden on all cities.”

Moorpark Public Works Director Kenneth Gilbert estimates that the new program could cost the city from $50,000 to $100,000.

“The approach taken stresses education, making sure businesses and homeowners know that they shouldn’t dump oil into the gutter for instance,” Gilbert said. “There are also provisions for inspection and enforcement of standards, but all that takes money.”

Gilbert said he had requested that the city levy its own $5 assessment per household, but the council voted against that recommendation.

Lawrason said the city would try to fund the program using surplus general fund money. As for the other two assessments, he said the city has tried to offset homeowners’ costs.

“We’ve done what we can each year so that the assessments wouldn’t increase, but you can do that only so long,” he said. In the past, the city has funneled surplus general fund money to pay for park upkeep and other city services.

For nearly 10 years, Moorpark has levied “benefit assessments” on property owners to pay for city services. Benefit assessment districts have been used by cities to circumvent Proposition 13, which imposed limits on property taxes without two-thirds approval by voters.

Lawrason said he is uncomfortable with the dependence on the special assessments, but knows of no other way to pay for the services demanded by residents.

“I doubt people look at their tax bill and realize where these assessments are going,” he said. “Maybe we should do a better job of informing residents how their money is being spent. We’ve talked about that in the past and I like that idea.”