The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District’s (SMMUSD) Save Our Schools Committee (formerly the ad hoc Parcel Tax Committee) discussed a new model for the parcel tax to be presented to voters in a special June 3 election.
The previously proposed $300 flat tax measure failed to win approval in the Nov. 5, 2002 election. The parcel tax was designed to replace lost state and federal revenues to the SMMUSD. According to District Superintendent John Deasy, the Board of Education has already cut $1.5 million from the current budget due to drops in state revenues and, in addition, expects the state Assembly’s recent $10 billion budget reduction to result in a decline of $3.5 million in district revenue for the 2003-2004 school year. Deasy said this would bring the total projected deficit next year to $11 million.
Ralph Mechur, the Structure Exemptions and Legal Issues sub-committee co-chair, presented a new model Jan. 6 for the parcel tax to the district’s attorneys. Under the new model, each parcel in the cities of Santa Monica and Malibu would be taxed at the same flat rate, but an additional tax on square footage would be added on parcels with improvements-in other words, parcels with structures. Mechur did not specify amounts of the flat tax and the improvement tax. The model awaits official committee action, as too few members were present at the meeting to vote on the proposal. The committee is still considering a tax exemption for senior citizens.