Effort in West Sacramento to oppose sudden tax increase over unpaid school district bond
WEST SACRAMENTO - A petition is picking up pace in West Sacramento after homeowners were hit with an unexpected tax increase. The county admits it was a billing mistake but it still has to get paid.
We talked with a taxpayer spearheading an effort to get county leaders to backpedal on the bill.
Suzanne Johnson put out a bright orange sign and posted up in West Sacramento, collecting signatures to petition about residents' tax bill.
"The treasurer's office made a mistake, and now we're paying for it," said Johnson.
Johnson is one of the West Sacramento homeowners who's seeing a spike on their annual property tax bill after a treasury oversight.
"Mine went up about $200," said a West Sacramento resident.
People are seeing increases anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to several hundred dollars.
"A lot of people don't have that type of money laying around, especially in this economy," said one West Sacramento resident.
"Unfortunately, at the time, our office believed that the debt payments on this bond were ending when they were not," said Tom Haynes, Yolo County's interim chief financial officer.
Haynes took responsibility for the mistake, saying it started with a Washington Unified School District bond voters passed in 2004. The district spent the money building River City High School, but the bond was refinanced, and last year's payment was not billed.
With Washington Unified in danger of default, the decision was then made to add the debt to this year's tax bill.
"And in this economy, who has an extra $450? And we really just want somebody to listen to us and see if we can come to a resolution to the problem," Johnson said.
Johnson is now gathering signatures in hopes the county will recall the bonds, reset them, and then reissue the tax bills.
"I see every signature as being another person that's with me in the room when we go and present our argument to the county supervisors," said Johnson.
Johnson says she's already gathered at least three hundred signatures but is working on more.
Meantime, Washington Unified still owes 50 million dollars on the school bonds, which won't be paid off until 2031. They plan to hold a hearing on the issue later this year.