Vallejo Mare Island homeowners seek to shed special tax they've uselessly paid for years
VALLEJO -- A group of homeowners on Mare Island in Vallejo say they're being forced to pay an extra tax that gets them nothing in return. They'll be pleading their case at a budget hearing on Tuesday and, so far, there's a surprising amount of sympathy coming from City Hall.
Vallejo took over Mare Island Naval Shipyard in about 2000, and five years later homebuilder Lennar constructed 322 new houses. To pay for police and fire protection, the city and developer agreed on a special tax, called a Community Facilities District, or CFD.
But in 2009, the city filed for bankruptcy and closed the only "facility" on the island - a fire station on Nimitz Avenue. Ever since, to get a basic city service, Mare Island homeowners have been paying an extra $2,300 in taxes per year that other property owners in the city don't have to pay.
"The real estate salesman and the city said they're going to go away in a couple years, they're not that bad and they're going to go away," said homeowner Daniel Glaze. "So, we all bought houses and didn't really know, not at all."
But the tax didn't go away. It's been 18 years now and homeowners on Mare Island are collectively paying more than $3 million each year in addition to their normal property taxes.
"We like it here and we want to stay here, and we figure that we'll get our justice at some point in time," said homeowner Susan Nichols. "But it's been hard. We've lost a lot of good people."
Sherianne Grimm lost someone. Her husband died from a seizure while they waited for paramedics to show up from the city. She thinks about that whenever she sees the closed fire station, now being used as a workout gym for the police.
"So, for me this is personal," said Grimm. "Every time I write those taxes that I'm paying for something that we don't get, it reminds me of everything I lost."
But now, the homeowners may be in line for a win. They presented their case to the city council and after years of their complaints being ignored, council members are now questioning the legitimacy of the special tax.
"I'm hoping that we can find a pathway that relieves you all of these special taxes," said Charles Parmares, who represents the district.
"It's clear that you're being treated unfairly for services that you do not get," said Councilmember Cristina Arriola.
"I support being fair in looking into the future in how we can resolve this issue," said Vice Mayor Rozzana Verder-Aliga.
Dissolving the tax outright could cause a multi-million-dollar hole in the city's budget next year. Mayor Robert McConnell has suggested a phased approach, eliminating the tax gradually over the next few years. But at the hearing, he also raised the issue of legal liability.
"How are we justifying some of these charges and fees?" he asked city staff. "And if we cannot defend them, then I think we have some vulnerability as a city."
So far, the homeowners have not sued over this, mainly because the CFD also requires them to pay the city's legal fees if they did.
"I think they're a little scared of what could happen," said homeowner Wendell Quigley. "You know, if we could come up with the money, who's to say we couldn't sue the city for the 56 million that they've taken from us in those 18 years?"
But the homeowners are hoping it won't have to come to that, that the city won't try to defend something they know isn't right.