Minutes 1966 Jan to June - Laserfiche WebLink

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capacity limits; guidelines for insuring stability. He reviewed lack of understanding concerning fact district taxes not applied outside district; in commenting on school questions raised, stated fact development would take place whether a district or not, and children for schools will be a part of Redwood Shores whether a District or not. He stated in this respect special study had been made to evaluate school aspect and report made to Council and School Districts ..involved which in effect found no direct connection between school issue and project feasibility and showed there would be a span from 3 to 10 years to plan for schools and noted recom- mendation that all of Redwood Shores be placed in one School District. James Kuebelbeck, Senior Economist of DMJM, reviewed need and rationale for District Assessor in that multi-million dollar public works program contemplated by District will increase values of all lands within the District in a manner and at a rete different from other lands within the County. He stated undeveloped lands within the District will gain value by virtue of being included within the District because of: 1. Regional District Improvements to be constructed by the District such as large water supply connections to the Hetch Hetchy Aquaduct and the improvement of tidal sloughs to usable and attractive waterways; 2. The fact that bonds have been authorized for a substantial public works program that envisions the improvement of all of the presently undeveloped lands within the District. These benefits, in part direct, and in part imputed will be changing values rapidly, particularly for the lands not yet developed. Thus the problem of assessing undeveloped lands in relationship to their true values for benefits received is an unique one for those lands within the Dis- trict. The values of fully developed parcels will be represented by sales price data which will establish their true fair market value for both the County Assessor's roll (for City and County Government Services) as well as the District Assessor's roll for District tax purposes. Thus the fully developed and sold parcels do not present a problem unto themselves insofar as the District is concerned. The sole question is the determination of current and rapidly changing values for the undeveloped lands within the District. It should be borne in mind also that the County Assessor is charged with equalizing his entire County role covering all developed and undeveloped parcels and makes his determinations based upon County wide influences. He is not, therefore, concerned with making assessments for equity purposes as to special and general improvement districts such as Redwood City General Improvement District 1-64. Because County Assessors are not concerned with unique values within special district, District Assessors are employed for establishing tax equity for Districts such as Redwood City General Improvement District 1-64, Irrigatvi_on Districts, Reclamation Districts of other types,etc. In summary, it is clear that the use of the County A,, -lessor for District tax purposes would likely create an inequity within the District tax structure, and would, over time, act as a. disservice to persons having purchased homes and developed commercial and industrial property within the District. A District Assessor concerned only with tax equity within the District can, by reference to appraisals prepared for the District, and by his own inspection of current construction programs, insure that current values of undeveloped land will be used to equitably defray the Districts' total debt through the ad -valorem pro- cess. In addition, by use of District Assessor who is a member of the City staff rather than the County staff, the Council can maintain complete and direct control of the assessment and equalization process. This would not be possible if the County Assessor were used, and if in any year, owners of undeveloped lands were able to have their assessment reduced by the County Board of Equalization, then residents within the District could justifiably complain to the City Council who would be powerless to correct the situation. In order that the City Council can indeed fulfill its promises to the public that it will oversee and manager the District on a sound basis, the Council should maintain control of the assessment procedures as well as the taxing procedures, by use of a District Assessor. The use of a District Assessor has no direct effect on the bonding capacity of the District. Bonding capacity is defined as a percentage of fair market value not -- assessed value. For some reason there seems to be confusion on this point. The Assessor establishes value for tax purposes. The Appraiser (a different person) establishes values for debt capacity purposes as required or requested by the City Financial Advisor from time to time.