City of Sacramento wants to make preservation of historic properties more affordable
SACRAMENTO — Efforts are underway to preserve some of Sacramento's most historic properties.
One midtown home on Capitol Avenue dates back to 1906.
"It's a four-square, which means it's a two-story building that looks like a box," said William Burg, the president of Preservation Sacramento.
On the inside, the home still has a century-old charm, including leaded glass cabinets and hardwood floors. But it also needs a lot of restoration work.
"Nothing involving homes is cheap these days," Burg said.
Renovating older homes often comes with extra expenses.
"Historic preservation does mean there's an added cost but with the added bonus of something that you can't get anywhere else," Burg said.
Now, the City of Sacramento is trying to make it a little more affordable for owners of historic properties to preserve them.
"Owning any old building is expensive," said Sean de Courcy, the city's preservation director.
A state law called the Mills Act allows the city to reduce the property tax on historic structures — if the owners agree to fix them up.
"The goal was to give owners of historic properties a preservation incentive," de Courcy said.
"The idea is that you use those funds to pay for the additional work that needs to be done," Burg said.
So just how much can people save on their property tax bills?
"We've heard anywhere from 30-50%, so it can be substantial," de Courcy said.
The Capitol Avenue home has been approved for the tax breaks along with two homes in Sacramento's Fab 40s neighborhood.
The old Marshall Hotel downtown, which has been converted into a Hyatt hotel, also qualifies for lower taxes.
"The property owner has invested a lot into an adaptive reuse project to give that building new life," de Courcy said.
Historians say it's important to take steps to try and save these structures before they crumble and decay due to old age.
"The hazard is a vacant lot where nobody can live," Burg said.
In Sacramento, a home must be more than 50 years old and be evaluated and listed as a historic structure to apply for the Mills Act tax breaks.