School Board to Decide on Parcel Tax Measure

Neil Teixeira November 13, 2012 at 12:20 pm

Measure A Parcel Taxes Are Not Applied Uniformly.
Piedmont Unified School District is proposing a new yearly parcel tax. For many years PUSD has been "flying solo" and levied its parcel taxes in a risky subjective "regressive" fashion. Piedmont's unique 5-tiered, graduated parcel tax formula victimizes and burdens the smallest lot owners (lowest assessed value)-while unfairly benefiting the largest land owners (highest assessed value). Smallest lots (2950) that are under 10,000 sq ft (52%-409 acres) pay 71% of the parcel taxes. Largest lots (800) over 10,000 sq ft (48%-381 acres) pay only 26% of the parcel taxes. The smallest lots (2000 sq ft) are paying 24X more (per sq ft) in taxes than the largest lots. If PUSD needs 9 million dollars per year tax from its 3750 residential home owners, then "all" home owners should be levied at a simple flat rate of $2400 per each residential parcel. or A flat rate tax at a simple, cents per square foot of each real estate lot or house. PUSD needs to join the rest (99.9%) of the California school districts and apply its school parcel taxes in a defendable, uniformly fair, proportional and equitable manner. Neil Teixeira

Rick Schiller November 13, 2012 at 05:15 pm

The San Marino School District consistently ranks as the #1 School district in the state traditionally scoring 15 – 25 API points higher than Piedmont. The San Marino fixed school support taxes total a flat rate $1169 per parcel. At its high water mark the tax burden on Piedmonters is $2,114 to $3,590 per parcel.
The second highest ranking district is La Canada, currently ranking 12 points higher than Peidmont. Their tax is $150 fixed per parcel with a 100% senior exemption. San Marino is dismissed as a reasonable comparable by Piedmont high tax advocates, they believe the lower salaries in Los Angelas County are significant. The Sacramento Bee cites San Marino average teacher salary in 2011 is $70,527; La Canada $70,964; Piedmont $71,437. These salaries are within 1% of each other and comparable. Administrative costs are higher in Piedmont. Our tax is 181% - 307% of San Marino’s and 1409% - 2393% of La Canada’s. Both districts have a 100% senior exemption as do all other high ranking school districts in the state with a school support tax.

Hope Salzer November 13, 2012 at 10:00 pm

It seems to me that, according to your math, that 21% of the parcels (the 800 large parcels that are > 10K sq ft) pay 26% of the parcel tax which demonstrates a fairly progressive level of taxation. Since true ad valorem taxes (based on the market value of the house or lot) are prohibited by CA law, I believe this is the best we can do within our tax code as it stands.

Hope Salzer November 13, 2012 at 10:16 pm

Dear Mr. Schiller,
I understand your objections, but I believe focusing on only these 2 variables (the amount of the annual parcel tax and the average overall student test scores) ignores the big picture of how School Districts balance their books each year. Parcel taxes are only one, relatively-small component of a School District's revenues, so without a fuller understanding of how San Marino and La Canada (submitted as anecdotal evidence) meet their funding obligations and deliver their test scores, it is not fruitful to compare their parcel taxes in isolation. Do those communities have a higher level of annual support from their Ed Foundations or a much larger fundraising capacity? Do they rely on sales (or other commercial) taxes provided by their communities to fund their schools? Are they 'basic aid' communities (meaning that, for the most part, their property taxes fully pay for their school funding obligations and their communities get to keep the excess in their District)? I agree that more information is necessary and a fuller exploration of our funding options may be indicated, however, objecting to Piedmont's parcel tax amount without illuminating the complete picture is not an effective argument for (or against) it.

Rick Schiller November 13, 2012 at 10:44 pm

Ms. Salzer, actually you highlight a meaningful solution, that most likely donor money is at a higher level in San Marino and perhaps our School Board could divert some of the considerable resources about to be expended on our very high tax to reaching the many caring and generous residents in Piedmont. Evidently San Marino is not "basic aid" as their school support tax is so high, but if you have other information I would welcome it.
I addressed one specific argument that is commonly heard, that salaries are lower in San Marino, so it is not a good comparable. San Marino (and La Canada) appear to be quite comparable from the standpoint of teacher salaries. In fairness administrative costs do appear to be higher in Piedmont.

Hope Salzer November 14, 2012 at 05:10 pm

Dear Mr. Schiller,
You must not be aware that there are already a LOT of resources expended year-round *every* year, on philanthropic fundraising efforts (which are quite successful and, I believe, raise over $2MM annually for Piedmont's schools). If you would like to see these efforts raise even more money for our schools so that we can lower our reliance on the school support tax, I urge you to call or visit the Fundraising Office swiftly to offer your time, energy, talents and ideas towards these projects. They are currently executed almost exclusively by overworked, overburdened, financially-stretched volunteer parents of young, school-aged children who, I'm quite certain, would welcome any sincere, capable assistance.

Hope Salzer November 14, 2012 at 05:23 pm

In terms of the definition of 'Basic Aid' district-- it is quite a misnomer. Even very affluent communities (another example is Kentfield, in Marin) which are defined as 'basic aid' also levy parcel taxes because of Prop 13's 1% property tax rate limitation even on properties assessed at, or near, market value (most homes purchased after 2002). These Districts raise higher amounts of property tax bec/ they are not disproportionately burdened (financially speaking) by long-tenured homeowners (and their heirs) [Note: this is not a criticism, just a statement of fact.]. If a District raises more property taxes than they would be paid by remitting those property taxes to the state for reapportionment, then that community gets to keep the excess and they are called a 'basic aid' community. Even though these districts are relatively rich by CA standards (remember that CA is 47th in the U.S. in per pupil education spending), they still choose to levy incremental parcel taxes to allow their Districts to raise their educational spending to at least, if not above, the national average so that their students can compete for college/university openings with students from all over the U.S. and, now, the globe. Piedmont's current level of school support tax merely allows us to do the same (attain a national average level of per pupil spending).

Hope Salzer November 14, 2012 at 05:24 pm

Piedmont is overwhelmingly dependent on Property/Parcel taxes as a revenue source for its schools bec/ it is a 'bedroom' community with almost no retail or commercial tax-base supporting it and bec/ CA apportions sales tax revenues based on 'in situe' principle, i.e. to cities and counties where the sales tax revenue was collected.