Residents file tax claims against city
Eron Ben-Yehuda
Two Huntington Beach residents, with the support of a taxpayers’ rights
group, filed claims this week against the city demanding refunds for a
property tax they say is illegal.
The city, which will collect about $7 million this year from the tax,
uses the money to help pay for retirement benefits for city employees.
If the city grants the refunds, then all property owners should demand
their money back, said Tom Bittle, director of legal affairs at the
nonprofit Howard Jarvis Taxpayers’ Assn. “They’re being charged a tax
that we feel the law doesn’t authorize.”
The City Council voted in August to continue collecting the tax at a
fixed rate of about 5 cents per $100 of assessed value. That means a
homeowner would pay the city $150 this year for a house worth $300,000.
It may not seem like much, but that’s beside the point, said resident
Chuck Scheid, who filed a claim.
“It’s not the money, it’s the principle,” he said.
Officials argue that the city’s charter gives them the power to apply the
money toward pensions. But opponents counter that state law, specifically
Proposition 13, requires the tax be approved by two-thirds of the city’s
voters.
“It’s a blatant violation of Proposition 13,” said Scheid, who is a
member of the city’s finance board.
The bone of contention dates back to an election in 1978, when voters
passed the proposition and, at the same time, amended the charter. The
late Howard Jarvis led the grass-roots campaign in favor of Proposition
13.
While the proposition made levying taxes more difficult, the charter
amendment seemed more permissive, allowing the levying of property taxes
“sufficient to meet all obligations of the city for the retirement system
in which the city participates,” states a memo by City Atty. Gail Hutton
dated July 26.
The amendment proves that voters intended to permit the tax after a
simple majority vote of the council, she wrote.
“That is poppycock and a direct insult to the citizens of Huntington
Beach,” Scheid said. “We are not so stupid as to vote for two such
diametrically opposed positions on the same day, at the same time, and in
the very same voting booth.”
The city has until early December to respond to the claims, which must be
filed prior to a lawsuit.
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