Council to Ask Voters to Hike ‘Bedroom Tax’

The Thousand Oaks City Council has decided to place a measure on the November ballot that would quadruple the city’s “bedroom tax” on developers and use the extra money to buy more open space.

The bedroom tax is the fee that developers pay for every residential unit they build in the city. The fees will now be raised from $100 to $400 for each mobile-home unit or one-bedroom dwelling, from $150 to $600 per two-bedroom unit and $200 to $800 per dwelling of three or more bedrooms.

The measure needs the support of two-thirds of the voters to pass.

Taxpayers’ advocate Jere Robings criticized the increase, saying the fees would most likely be passed on to future homeowners by the developers anyway.

But the council wasted no time in deciding to place the measure on the ballot. City officials estimate that the fourfold increase would bring in $5.2 million within 20 to 25 years as Thousand Oaks is built out.

“It really is an updating of the cost,” said Councilwoman Jaime Zukowski, noting that the bedroom tax has not been adjusted since 1972. “It’s completely fair in my opinion.”

The increase, however, will only generate 15% of the $35.8 million that city officials estimate is needed to manage, maintain and acquire Thousand Oaks’ ring of open space.

Thousand Oaks now has more than 13,000 acres of public open space, most of which is owned and managed by the Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency, a partnership between the city and the Conejo Recreation and Park District.