Jan. 30, 2003
George,
I also want to add our appreciation to you for all the hard work you have done so far. Your presentation Tuesday was excellent.
Yesterday morning we once again questioned the economic impact to property owners and the County. I recited the story about one of my board members who recently was called to remap a parcel in Gordon Valley that had gone into an estate. Of the three beneficiaries, two wanted to plant grapes and one to have property remain in open space. Before the remapping, the parcel was appraised at almost $8 million. After the remapping, taking into consideration all the regulations on the books and the Proposed SSO, the property is now assessed at under $3 million. John Tuteur and two County staff persons also did their assessment, and agreed it should be reassessed. That is a huge impact. Yesterday, when County staff was asked how many parcels were affected, they did not know how many parcels were affected, but later said they thought the number is around 9,000 out of a total of 14,000. Even with a 10% cap, that is a huge taking of land. Obviously, Luce did some math before the end of the hearings. But the other three Supervisors refuse to look at it.
It is indeed a sad state of affairs when three Supervisors close their eyes to the very significant financial impact this Ordinance will have to property owners and the County. John Tuteur came to our last board meeting and we asked if he knew how many parcels would be affected and what would happen to the affected parcels as the owners would certainly want relief property tax wise. John said he thought there were about 5,500 parcels and they would all have to be looked at and be adjusted. One would think that at the very least, the people are entitled to know what the "true" cost of this Ordinance is and how much they really lose, before Supervisors make such a monumental decision. With the poor state of the economy in Sacramento and Counties facing having to absorb more social services costs, it seems that the County can ill afford to lose any tax base and is taking a position that will hurt the majority of the County's tax payers and the County. But then, it's easy to make such a drastic decision if you are not affected. Luce is to be commended for having the courage to stand alone against something that is so wrong.
Erna Stevenson
SNBE