City Incorrectly quotes California Government Code in an Attempt to Justify Four Seasons’ Illegal Ballot
By: Libi Uremovic| Original Article at Patch.com
Like RDA, Mello Roos has to be removed from our State laws as it has become nothing more than a way for cities to collect more property taxes than the 1% Prop 13 allows.
The City of Beaumont is a perfect example of why local agencies can not be trusted to have the ability to acquire bond debt.
From the City’s Website:
JUST THE FACTS: A CFD formation requires an election. If there are 12 or more registered voters within that area it shall be approved by +2/3 registered voters. If not, it shall be approved by +2/3 of the property owners by acreage owned.
WHY: per GC53326(b) … if at least 12 persons, … have been registered to vote within the territory of the proposed community facilities district … preceding the close of the protest hearing, the vote shall be by the registered voters of the proposed district, with each voter having one vote.
PROOF: Government Code Section 53326 (b) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (c), if at least 12 persons, who need not necessarily be the same 12 persons, have been registered to vote within the territory of the proposed community facilities district for each of the 90 days preceding the close of the protest hearing, the vote shall be by the registered voters of the proposed district, with each voter having one vote.
http://www.ci.beaumont.ca.us/index.aspx?NID=890
The City left out the first sentence of Cali Govt Code 53326: (a) “The legislative body shall then submit the levy of any special taxes to the qualified electors of the proposed community facilities district ..”
The City is attempting to pretend that renters could/would be considered the ‘qualified electors’.
Mello Roos is not an excise tax, it is a special property tax that attaches liens on private property. The ‘qualified electors’ that the Mello Roos laws are referring to are the individual property owners and out of town developers. Beaumont violated State Law by targeting the Senior Citizen Renters living in Four Seasons instead of notifying the Property Owners.
California Govt. Code 53322.4: “The clerk of the legislative body may also give notice of the hearing by first-class mail to each registered voter and to each landowner within the proposed district.”
Refusing to allow property owners to vote is only one of many violations of State Laws that made the Four Seasons’ Ballot illegal, but it’s more of the precedent that it sets.
If Kapanicas can push this illegal lien on property owners without their consent then he’ll be able to attach liens on the property owners in the old parts of town.