Tax Payment Rate Up, but Some Major Firms Late

Ventura County taxpayers, boosted by a booming economy, are paying the tax collector at the highest rate in at least a decade. But several of the county’s most prominent corporate citizens failed to pay large property tax bills by the April 10 deadline.

Tax Collector Hal Pittman has received more than 96% of the $574 million owed by local property owners during 1999-2000, up a percentage point over the year before and far ahead of payment rates during the recession of the early 1990s.

“This is as good as I’ve ever seen it,” said Pittman, county treasurer since 1988. “I’d like to take credit for it, but tax payments are definitely a barometer of the economy.”

Still, the owners of about 16,000 parcels--6% of the total--missed their most recent tax payments two weeks ago, leaving about $21.5 million unpaid.

Among the top 10 property tax debtors for this fiscal year are the owners of two Ventura hotels, a struggling shopping mall, a newspaper publishing company and a developer that hopes to build one of the largest commercial and housing projects in Oxnard history.

Pittman said the county has no way to collect from the delinquent owners until they fall five years in arrears. Only then can county officials seize the property and sell it to the highest bidder.

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As a result, Pittman has not made an effort--other than mailing the semiannual tax bill--to collect from Ventura County’s largest tax debtors. But before the end of the tax year on June 30, those owners, already facing a 10% penalty, will be notified of an extra 1.5% penalty each month from then on.

“If it rolls over, it starts getting really expensive,” Pittman said. “It’s kinda mean. . . . If you can’t pay, it really starts to mount up.”

That progressive tax has caught up with a Santa Paula ranch owner and an Irvine development company, the two property owners who have seen their taxes mount the highest.

Dahlberg Farms owes the county about $311,000 on a 4,200-acre cattle ranch in Adams Canyon north of Santa Paula. Owner Arnold Dahlberg, who is seeking city annexation to build houses there, said he is fighting a new, higher tax. He said his taxes had been only $16,000 a year for many years. But records show they were $61,000 this year.

“That tax was done in error,” said Dahlberg, a retired businessman who began ranching the property 30 years ago. “And I’ve appealed it.”

Assessor Dan Goodwin said he could not discuss the value his office has placed on Dahlberg’s land, because the case is pending before the county Assessment Appeals Board.

Messenger Development Co., which owns property as Strathern Ventura Partners and Hidden Creek Ranch Investors, owes more than $250,000 for taxes on thousands of acres it hoped to develop near Moorpark and Simi Valley. That includes about $111,000 this year.

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But a 1999 anti-sprawl ballot initiative approved by Moorpark voters reversed a City Council decision to let Messenger build 3,200 houses on 4,300 acres in the hills north of the city. Messenger had worked for a decade to gain the city’s approval.

“The best way of representing our position is that we’re kind of taking the hermit role, and we’re not commenting on anything that’s going on up there,” said Messenger general counsel Bruce Poetter.

Technically, the county’s biggest property tax debtors are the St. John’s hospitals in Oxnard and Camarillo. But a State Board of Equalization spokesman said Thursday that the bulk of the two hospitals’ $560,087 tax bill this year is being rescinded.

The hospitals had held a tax exemption for decades, but a flaw in the technical language of newly written articles of incorporation temporarily changed their status, state officials said. The assessor’s office was notified by phone on Thursday.

“They’re in good shape now,” Goodwin said. “They will get their exemption back. That will satisfy their tax obligation.”

Second behind St. John’s on the annual list are the two out-of-state owners of the Oxnard Factory Outlet Mall, who owe $119,098. The out-of-area owners of the Clarion Hotel and the Holiday Inn, both near the ocean in Ventura, also rank high after missing tax payments in December and April. The Clarion owner is listed as Ventura Hospitality Inc., a Texas company that bought the property for $11 million in 1999. The Holiday Inn owner is Cal-Vent Group Ltd., a Missouri partnership.

“I don’t even know who owns the property; I work for the management company,” said Holiday Inn General Manager Bob Swain. “But I can tell you that we’re the biggest producer of [bed] tax in the city of Ventura. The city gets a nice chunk from that.”

John P. Scripps Newspapers, owners of the Ventura County Star, also missed April payments of $109,653 on facilities in Ventura and Camarillo. Tim Gallagher, president and editor of the Star, said the bill was paid by mail on Wednesday, along with a 10% penalty.

“It was an oversight,” he said. “We’ve had so many changes around here that we just didn’t get around to it.”

Farmers Insurance Group Holding Co. also missed its April payment of $108,265 on its signature $20-million office building on Cochran Street in Simi Valley.

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Also behind on taxes are the developers of Riverpark, who only three months ago unveiled plans to construct thousands of homes, office buildings and businesses along the Santa Clara River in Oxnard.

Larry G. Thompson, the owner of an estate in exclusive Hidden Valley near Thousand Oaks, owed $79,058 on two Potrero Road parcels, including a $5-million home.

“A lot of these are just the result of a pattern of business,” Goodwin said. “Sometimes organizations will miss a payment, pay the penalty and then get caught up.”

That is what has happened at former pro baseball player Lenny Dykstra’s Car Wash in Simi Valley, said Kevin Dykstra, Lenny’s brother.

The $6-million car wash/auto repair shop/pizza parlor pays its $39,000-a-year bill all in one lump sum, Kevin Dykstra said.

“We just pay once a year, and they make it up with the interest,” he said. “But that’s a lot of money, isn’t it?”

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Ventura County Property Tax Debtors

This is a list of property owners whao failed to make tax payments on time on Dec. 10 or April 10, or both, and who still owed debts of at least $35,000 on Wednesday, according to the Ventura County tax collector’s office.

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Oxnard Factory Outlet Partners, Oxnard $119,098 Ventura Hospitality Inc., Ventura $115,583 Strathern Ventura Partners / Hidden Creek

Ranch Investors / Messenger Investment Co., Moorpark $111,275 John P. Scripps Newspapers, Ventura and Camarillo * $109,653 Farmers Ins. Group Holding Co., Simi Valley $108,265 Cal-Vent Group Ltd., Ventura $82,053 Riverpark LLC, Oxnard $80,046 Larry G. Thompson, Hidden Valley $79,058 Calabasas BCD Inc., Moorpark $65,558 North Ranch Country Club, Thousand Oaks $65,085 Lincoln-Recp. Westlake Op., Thousand Oaks $63,397 Vintage at the Rose, Oxnard $62,389 Dahlberg Farms, Santa Paula $61,184 Lynn Road Medical Associates, Thousand Oaks $59,942 Credit Suisse Leasing, Simi Valley $59,675 Foxborough Park Inc., Oxnard $57,490 Lake Self Storage, Thousand Oaks $54,451 U-Ramah, Ojai $45,841 Seagate Surgis Oxnard Ltd., Oxnard $45,174 Glasjar Funding Ltd., Newbury Park $44,656 John G. Schill, Oxnard $44,290 Ventura Pipeline System, Ventura $42,489 Water Court Partnership, Thousand Oaks $40,836 Lenny Dykstra’s Car Wash, Simi Valley $39,129 Larry Hansel, Thousand Oaks $37,504

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* John P. Scripps officials say they mailed their April 10 tax payment, with a 10% penalty, on Wednesday.