By Thomas Randall Jr.

On Tuesday, May 3, the voters in the Davis Joint Unified School District will have the choice of approving or rejecting Measure A, with authorizes an additional parcel tax of $200 per single-family home and $20 per unit for multi-unit parcels per year for two years. This is historic: the first all-mail election in Davis.

Described here are the problems associated with Measure A. Many low- and middle-income taxpayers struggle to pay the overall rate of property taxation in Davis.

The Davis school board and the governing bodies of many other local government entities have placed an inordinate number of special tax measures on the ballot in recent elections. Eight special tax measures have passed and are in effect, amounting to an additional average property tax rate of $1,188 per parcel per year. This is a 75 percent increase from approximately $673.32 since 1998, when there were just five special property tax assessments within the Davis city limits. If Measure A passes, there will be nine.

Measure A provides no exemption for low-income property owners who are under 65 years of age; there is an age-based exemption only, not even a partial or a full exemption or even a refund program due to unforeseen personal income-related circumstances. This is also true of the school district’s Measures Q and W, and the Community Facilities District 1.

However, the school board had the option of including an exemption from this special tax and Measures Q and W for SSI disability recipients, as allowed by California Government Code Section 50079, but chose not to.

The population of likely property owners who are 65 years or older residing in the Davis school district has been increasing, according to census population statistics. It’s up about 6 to 7 percent since the 2000 census, according to a 2009 estimate. Because an increasing number of “middle-aged” and “middle-class” property owners find it too expensive to live in the Davis school district because of the ever-increasing property tax burden, rising utility rates and stringent growth control policies, the eventual effect is that the 65-and-over age group will be the major age group of property owners in the district.

That age group is eligible for property tax exemptions from Measures Q, W and CFD 1, and Measure A, if it passes.

The aging Davis community demographic exacerbates the declining enrollment situation faced in the schools. The proportion of Davis’ population that is under 18 years (elementary and secondary school age) is being suppressed to a current 17 percent, which is a lower proportion in comparison to the national and state averages of 26 to 27 percent. In the neighboring cities of Woodland and Dixon, the under-18 category makes up 27 percent and 31 percent of the population, respectively.

This situation contributes to a decrease in the rates of enrollment in the Davis school district year by year, and justifies the defeat of Measure A. The local property tax burden shouldn’t increase to provide additional funding for instructional services, as district student enrollment declined from 8,863 students in 2007-08 to 8,833 students in 2008-09.

Measure A clearly is an example of an attempt to excessively tax the taxpayers of the district. If Measure A passes, the combined rate with Measures Q and W would rise from $320 per year to $520 per year. That’s a 62 percent increase just to support instructional programs in the district. It’s a higher combined rate than found in any school district in California, exceeding the $475-per-year special tax rate charged by the Ross Valley School District in Marin County, which currently has the highest such rate in the state.

In addition, the $200-per-year rate proposed by Measure A is identical to Measure Q, the highest special tax rate ever imposed locally for this purpose.

More reasons to vote no on Measure A can be found online at http://www.dcn.davis.ca.us/vme/no-on-a.

— Thomas Randall Jr. is a 38-year resident of Davis and a 1985 graduate of Davis High School. He was the alternate student representative to the Davis Board of Education in the 1983-84 academic year. A notary public, he is the coordinator of Taxpayers Against Measure A.

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