737,000 Property Owners to Get $15.7-Million Credit
A bit of taxpayer relief is in sight for 737,000 property owners across the city.
City officials have estimated that the property owners overpaid $15.7 million toward the purchase of a Fire Department safety and paramedic communications system.
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council approved crediting the property owners for the amount on their upcoming tax bills. For a property owner with a 1,500-square-foot dwelling, the credit would be about $11, officials said.
The tax dates to November 1988, when voters approved a bond measure to raise $67 million to replace the Fire Department’s communication and dispatch system. The tax was collected from 1989 to 1998.
During the 2000-2001 budget process, however, officials identified money that was set aside for administrative costs but not spent, as well as interest earnings that weren’t credited to the fund for the communication system. The city attorney’s office advised that the balance should be reimbursed to the public and the controller’s office determined taxpayers were owed $15.7 million.
The credit will show up on tax bills for 2000-01 that are due in December, said Molly Campbell, head of the city’s debt administration group.
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