[quote=CA renter] . . . No matter the tax situation, the counties/cities have no obligation to do anything but what’s best for the cities and counties . . . [/quote]
CAR, you and both know that CA cities and counties can be very “short-sighted,” fickle and perfect targets/prey for their Big Development cronies’ bribes. It would be GREAT if we could count on the local officials we elect to do “what’s best for cities and counties,” but alas, the dollar signs in their eyes are leading them astray. They see more property tax coffers that come into their cities as an elevation of power to themselves (more population = more clout/importance in the region) and blindly sign on the dotted line on more subdivision permits.
Stupid is as stupid does. And the established taxpayers suffer because their services are taken away to accommodate another 50K to 100K residents with each new “master-planned community” that goes in. How does this happen? The MR bond money generated by the new development is deposited by the state into the respective CFDs from whence it was paid. The balance of the property tax goes into the respective school districts, utility districts and voter-approved bonds and what is left over is deposited into a city or county’s general fund. This “leftover” portion is not enough to hire sufficient personnel (with benefits) to service these extra 50K to 100K people. If personnel are hired in years when property tax receipts are higher, they are then laid off when Prop 8 adjustments are made, resulting in lower property tax receipts. Then the personnel serving the long-existing population have to stretch themselves to serve the newer residents, causing wait times to be much longer for ALL residents for services (ex: street sweeping, tree trimming, and hundreds of *new* students crowding established schools until new schools can be built for them). Thus, the CA cities/counties who fell prey to Big Development’s latest ruse just screwed themselves and their constituents.
MR bonds DO NOT PAY for ongoing municipal/county services to a development. They only pay for the initial construction of municipal/county facilities and schools which will be used by this new population. A brand new empty police substation, branch libary or school is worthless without humans to staff it.
The sole cause of this “boom-bust” cycle causing fiscal instability to many jurisdictions of this state is undoubtedly too many approved subdivisions.
