Parcel Tax Committee Needs More Time to Study Feasibility

By Jonathan Friedman
Lookout Staff

December 16, 2009 -- The committee determining the feasibility of a parcel tax election for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified District to help bridge a growing $10 million budget shortfall will do additional research before making a recommendation.

The Board of Education -- which had given the committee $50,000 in August -- unanimously approved the committee’s request for another $15,000.

Committee member Rochelle Fanali said a second telephone poll is needed to “probe a little deeper to understand a little better about how voters feel … in these very complicated times.”

The second poll took place this weekend, with people asked if they could support an annual tax as low as $225 and as high as $425. An estimated $7 million can be generated from a $225-per-year tax, the committee said.

District residents are already paying $346 per parcel to the SMMUSD. Voters last year approved the measure for that tax, which has no expiration date.

The committee will make a recommendation to the board based on its research on January 14, but there is no guarantee the committee will determine an election is feasible, Chair Neil Carrey told the Board.

“This is probably one of the most complex times that we’ve faced in a long time in addressing the needs of the School District," Carrey said.

He attributed the uncertainty to "the situation with the State [and] the fact of the uncertainties of the length of time that the economy is going to take to recover,”

Carrey said if an election were to take place, the best time would be in late May. And he said it should be done as a mail-in election.

The District must notify the County 120 days in advance if it plans to hold an election, although it is under no obligation to have one just because it tells the County this. A ballot measure must be prepared at least 88 days prior to Election Day.

The Board formed a committee in August to explore the possibility of putting an “emergency/temporary parcel tax” on the ballot because of the SMMUSD’s bleak financial outlook, which has gotten worse since that time.

Since the District receives a majority of its revenue from the State, Sacramento’s financial crisis trickles down to the SMMUSD. The District has $8.7 million in cuts on the table.

This includes a staff reduction, which means an increase to classroom sizes.

The SMMUSD is operating on a $10 million deficit for the current school year. That amount is expected to increase during at least the next two years under the District's current budget plan. Financial reserves must cover the deficit spending. There is not enough in the reserves to do that much longer.

Last month, the District’s Financial Oversight Committee presented the Board with potential revenue boosters, including targeted fundraising, licensing the use of District names for merchandise and placing ads on campuses and buses as well as on the District's Web site. But these measures would only help in the long term and even require small upfront costs.

Also at last week’s meeting, the Board elevated Barry Snell from vice president to president. He replaces Ralph Mechur. Board member Kelly Pye was named vice president. Snell and Pye have been serving on the Board since 2006.