Camarillo to Share Tax Dollars With Schools

Revenue from a new redevelopment district will be shared with a number of nearby school districts under a series of agreements approved Wednesday by the Camarillo City Council.

Sitting as the Community Development Commission, the council agreed to cooperate with four local school agencies when it comes time to divvy up millions of new tax dollars.

The contracts were signed between the city and the local agencies, which maintained that they might be affected by any redevelopment projects undertaken by the commission.

Those districts include the Pleasant Valley School District, the Oxnard Union High School District, the Ventura County Community College District and the Ventura County Superintendent of Schools.

“They are best described as cooperation agreements,” City Atty. Robert Flandrick said of the contracts.

“They state what the school districts’ rights are,” he said. “But what dollar amounts that might mean [to each agency] is anyone’s guess at this stage.”

State law already allows for local districts to receive a small percentage of the tax money generated by new redevelopment districts, Flandrick said. But the agreements approved Wednesday spell out the terms and conditions of future payments to each agency.

The City Council approved the community’s first redevelopment area earlier this year after a group of Ventura Boulevard merchants complained that the city was not doing enough to boost shopping in that neighborhood.

The redevelopment district stretches over much of the so-called Ventura Freeway Corridor, a 1,000-acre swath generally between Los Posas and Flynn roads that includes huge chunks of property on both sides of the freeway.

Redevelopment zones do not increase taxes. They are able to raise money for projects and loans to landowners by placing any new taxes resulting from private investment into a special account.

Land values--and annual property taxes--rise when new investment occurs, and cities often borrow against the expected influx of new tax money.

It is estimated that the Camarillo redevelopment district will raise more than $160 million over the next 45 years--money that will be used for street and road improvements, loans to businesses and low-income housing purposes.

The amount of money that will go to local agencies will be much less. Even so, local school administrators welcome the influx of new dollars.

“It’s not a cash cow, but it will be something,” said Howard Hamilton, assistant superintendent of the Pleasant Valley School District. “It will probably be significant.”

Hamilton said his board would probably vote to spend the money on new furniture, supplies or even new classrooms. “That’s the intent,” he said, “to improve the infrastructure and aesthetics of the area.”

Charles Weis, the Ventura County schools superintendent, also said the new money would be put to good use.

“Since it will be coming from Camarillo, we’ll try to use it for the local area,” he said. “So we would probably use it to upgrade the facilities at Gateway School, the Regional Occupational Center and Phoenix School.

“But it all goes back to how much the property values improve,” he said. “And it’s very difficult to project how much that will be.”

Mayor David M. Smith said there may be other ways to share the new tax money once the redevelopment agency starts generating new investment.

“There may be some type of joint venture as a result of the process, but it’s too early to know what may materialize,” Smith said. “The initial hope is to work on the Ventura Boulevard district so it can better compete.”