4 Santa Clarita Builders Agree to School Taxes

At least four Santa Clarita Valley developers have eased their opposition to new school taxes and signed agreements that will raise at least $7 million for new schools.

Although the California Building Industry Assn., which represents most developers in the valley, is opposing the taxes in court, some developers have agreed to pay the school districts rather than continue to fight.

Several other developers are negotiating with school officials for similar agreements, said Clyde Smyth, superintendent of the William S. Hart Union High School District, the only secondary school district in the valley.

“We’re making a tremendous amount of progress right now,” Smyth said. “For the development community and school districts to be at war serves no good purpose.”

At issue are new taxes, approved by voters last summer, to pay for new schools in the valley’s crowded school districts. Some builders have filed lawsuits against the taxes, which average $6,000 a unit.

The most recent agreement came Wednesday when longtime Santa Clarita Valley developer Jack Shine, chairman of American Beauty Homes, agreed to $3.5 million in school taxes for the first phase of Canyon Park, a large development in the east valley. The first phase of 600 condominiums was approved Wednesday by the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission.

Robin Shine Ackerman, American Beauty Homes spokeswoman, said the only question remaining is the method of payment. Under the tax law, developers and school officials have latitude to establish a variety of financing methods. They range from paying the taxes outright to creating special bonding districts.

If a developer pays at the start of construction, the cost is added to the price of the home, said Pat Giannone, an attorney representing the Hart district. If a bonding district is created, the home prices remain lower and homeowners can pay off the bond gradually, sometimes over 30 years, as an addition to their yearly property tax bills.

School officials also are negotiating with some developers who want to make their payment in the form of land donated for school sites.

Mello-Roos Districts

Smyth said the bond districts, known as Mello-Roos districts, have eased developer opposition to the school taxes, which were overwhelmingly approved by voters June 2, 1987. On Tuesday, Hart district trustees approved agreements to create Mello-Roos districts with the Anden Group and Warmington Homes. The two agreements should raise a total of $1.6 million, Smyth said. Another agreement with Rancho Financial Associates is expected to raise $1.9 million.

Smyth said by the year 2010, the district will need four new high schools and four new junior highs at a cost of about $200 million. The district now has three high schools and three junior highs.

The California Building Industry Assn. lawsuit challenges the tax as exorbitant and illegal. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled against the builders in August, but the developers have appealed.