School Board Approves a $198 ‘Emergency’ Parcel Tax that Will Be Only Item on May Ballot

• Costlier Special Mail-In Ballot Is Viewed as a Way to Greatly Improve the Measure’s Chance for Passage

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District board of education has voted to approve a special mail-in election on May 25 for a new $198 per property “emergency” parcel tax to help offset the district’s rapidly growing deficit. The decision was made at a special meeting in Santa Monica on Feb. 1, which has not been made available on video or the Internet.
The board established an Emergency/Temporary Parcel Tax Renewal Feasibility Committee in August of 2009, to examine the plan to use a parcel tax to offset all or a portion of the district’s budget deficit, which is expected to exceed $14 million in 2010-11, due to the state’s projected $21 billion deficit. According to district staff, Santa Monica and Malibu schools will continue to face a “shortage of adequate funding to the district” for at least the next five years.
At its Jan. 14, meeting, the board accepted the recommendations from the committee to proceed with the parcel tax plan, despite what has been described as “lukewarm” response from the community, following a telephone poll conducted by the board.
The committee determined that $225 would be the maximum amount voters would be willing to approve. However, after discussion, the board opted to lower the amount to $198, in an attempt to make the measure more palatable to Santa Monica residents, who constitute the majority of the district’s voters and whose recession woes include escalating foreclosure and unemployment rates. District property owners already pay an existing, permanent $346 tax per parcel.
The new tax will require a two-thirds vote in order to pass. The board has opted not to place the measure on the June general election ballot but issue a separate, mail-in election, gambling that the added expense of the special election will be offset by increased odds that the measure will pass.
Program cuts, teacher layoffs, class size increases and even a five-day reduction in the school year are anticipated, regardless of whether the new tax passes.
Advocates for the measure say it would lessen the impact and help save programs like high school sports, and the services of security officers, nurses and librarians. However, the $5.7 million that could potentially be raised by the tax is less than half of the projected shortfall.
According to a district staff report, “This local funding measure will not alleviate the need to make some budget cuts for 2010-2011, [but] these revenues are critically necessary to protect our community’s excellent schools, prevent widespread layoffs of teachers and other personnel, maintain reasonable class size, protect academic achievement in math, science, technology, arts, music, and reading programs, and sustain school libraries.
The district’s next step will be to form a committee to promote the measure.
In Santa Monica, the proposed tax has already come under fire for not distinguishing between commercial and residential property owners. Critics say that, despite a proposed exemption for seniors, the burden will be unfairly placed on homeowners and small property owners, who will pay the same amount as commercial properties.
The staff report states “an emergency parcel tax is the only new revenue source that has the potential to provide immediate budget relief on a scale that would prevent serious harm to local public education.”
Whether the district’s voters view the crisis in the same light remains to be seen. In Malibu, the parcel measure is anticipated to be a campaign issue in the April 13 Malibu City Council election, as some in the community have begun questioning why the district is spending an extra $200,000-plus for the separate mail-in ballot if district funds are so tight.