Start the Presses: Sagebrush Burning
- Share via
Given the political posturing on both sides of the increasingly contentious Sagebrush issue brewing between Glendale and La Cañada, perhaps everyone involved should take a breath and burn, well, some sage to clear out the evil spirits.
In case you haven’t been following closely, here’s a quick recap. The Sagebrush area is within La Cañada city limits, but within the Glendale Unified School District’s territory. This quirk has multiple explanations, but primarily because GUSD predates La Cañada’s incorporation by a number of decades.
Over the years, residents of the area have tried — and failed — to move the district lines so the city limits and territory limits of La Cañada Unified would match up. Recently, a resident of the Sagebrush, Tom Smith, rallied his neighbors together and got the La Cañada Flintridge City Council, and then the LCUSD board, to formally announce that they wanted to unite the area with the city’s school district.
[For a more detailed analysis of recent Sagebrush property sales, click on this link.]
The stated reasons by Sagebrush folks were a desire for unity with the rest of their La Cañada neighbors, of feeling not truly part of the larger community because of a seemingly arbitrary GUSD line. The ones I spoke to expressed nothing but admiration for the Glendale schools their children attend or have attended, stating that concerns about academic excellence was never a concern.
Several also expressed irritation, or even offense, that anyone would claim there was a profit motive in the push.
Why would property values matter, they asked? In order to realize any gain, they would have to move. If they moved to somewhere else in La Cañada, any increase would be eaten up by the cost of the new home. Or, if they moved out of La Cañada, they would be moving out of the district, and their children would no longer be eligible to attend LCUSD.
Still, there is a demonstrable difference in property values. In the last 12 months, about 275 homes were sold in La Cañada, and about 25 of those were in the Sagebrush area. The median sales price in Sagebrush was $950,000; in the rest of La Cañada it was $1.32 million.
Though lot and home sizes are, in some cases, larger in the non-Sagebrush area, the best way to compare apples-to-apples is price-per-square foot. Again, Sagebrush loses out, with a median price of $455.05 compared to $555.78 for the rest of the city. Putting it generically, a 2,000 square-foot home costing $1 million in Sagebrush would cost $1.2 million in the rest of the city.
Whether you will see a glut of Sagebrush homes on the market if the area comes under LCUSD control is beside the point. Property values are likely to continually increase over the years due to such a move, meaning everyone in the area will see a gain whether they sell their home next year or in 20.
So it’s a bit disingenuous for the Sagebrush folks to claim money is irrelevant. Also, it’s important to note Sagebrush people could have bought in LCUSD territory, but chose not to do so. Probably, ahem, because it was cheaper.
And, let’s not forget the biggest issue is not the $200,000 Sagebrush homeowners might get in a sale, but the millions GUSD or LCUSD might get or lose. The negotiations between the districts have been a bit odd, to say the least.
On Oct. 21, the Glendale school board discussed a proposal that would involve seeking $6.8 million from La Cañada to help pay back debt incurred from the Measure S and K bonds. In addition, they discussed asking for $3,600 for each student that transferred from Glendale to La Cañada — about half what the district would have received from the state — for 12 years.
Though the final tab would depend on how many students actually transferred, Glendale officials estimated it to be about $17 million. The Glendale board is set to vote on its final proposal this Tuesday.
Before they could do that, La Cañada Unified Supt. Wendy Sinnette sent a letter to our sister paper, the La Cañada Valley Sun, cutting off negotiations, saying that $17 million was far beyond the resources of the district. Also, she claimed an earlier proposal of $7 million “had been unilaterally rejected by GUSD.”
OK, here’s what’s weird. First, GUSD hasn’t rejected anything, at least not yet. A proposal hasn’t even been voted on. Second, when negotiating, don’t you ask for your highest price first, and then go down to what you can live with?
And third, is it true that LCUSD can’t afford it? Last year, La Cañada voters approved a $450 per year parcel tax for seven years. The approximately 870 parcels in the Sagebrush could bring in about $400,000 per year, for potentially as many as five years. So, there’s $2 million there.
Additionally, Glendale is essentially asking La Cañada to split the cost of the reduced state funding it would see as a result of the transfer. Though school funding formulas are immensely complex, for the sake of argument, let’s assume that for every dollar Glendale loses from the state, La Cañada receives an extra dollar. Glendale’s asking for 50 cents back.
Under GUSD’s calculations, it believes the cost to La Cañada would be about $10 million over 12 years. Under my admitted rough calculation, that’s about half of the $20 million La Cañada stands to gain in extra funding during the same time period.
Sounds like we’re getting closer here: $2 million in extra parcel tax money and $10 million in extra state funding. Looks like the gap is closer to $5 million, not $10 million.
I think both sides can still work this out if they want to. I suppose that’s the big question, no?
DAN EVANS is the editor. He can be reached at (818) 637-3234 and dan.evans@latimes.com.