Talega Residents for Fair Taxation

Talega original owner

Hi Talega Friends, Thank you to everyone who turned out tonight for the CUSD Board meeting on two items pertaining to Talega's 2 bonds governed by CUSD. About 45 Talega residents, Robert Ming, the frontrunner in the Board of Supervisors 5th District Race, Craig Alexander, CUSD Board Candidate for Area 4, Kathleen Ward, Candidate for City Council, and Sharon Campbell, tax advocate for CFD 87-1 joined us in support of fair taxation. Thank you to the members of the school board who voted unanimously to lower special taxes for everyone in Talega. And, special thanks to Board Trustees Jim Reardon and Ellen Addonizio for steering the discussion in the right direction for the taxpayers' benefit. We've said previously that even the smallest actions have been steps in the right direction. Well, tonight we witnessed significant steps towards tax relief for Talega taxpayers which led to major taxpayer victories. In summary, the Board actions accomplished two things: 1) AGENDA ITEM 3: The motion by Trustee Reardon and seconded by Trustee Addonizio, was supported by the full board to reduce the bond coverage ratio for CFD 90-2 Mello-Roos taxes from 146.2% to 110% which is sufficient for a community like Talega with a low 1.5% delinquency rate and still provides for over-collections to protect the bondholders and the district, while meeting the minimum coverage ratio by law. Remember, CFD 90-2 affects all 3,515 properties in Talega ("new" and "old" Talega). The Board had initially considered lowering to a 123% coverage ratio. The 110% coverage ratio significantly reduces the amount of surplus taxes the district will collect. Currently $9.6M in surplus taxes are held in the Talega CFD account (primarily from a 2006 bond refinance in which $6.3M in tax savings resulted but were never passed onto taxpayers in accordance with the law, plus the 2% annual escalator imposed on Talega taxpayers). 2) AGENDA ITEM 19: A suggestion was made by Trustee Reardon to forgo t

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Here is an article of interest that was published in the latest SC Times: http://www.sanclementetimes.com/cusd-board-look-at-ways-of-updating-school-facilities-with-equity/ We will post when the August CUSD Board meeting will be scheduled regarding the vote on Talega's Mello-Roos taxes as referenced in this article.

At our request, Mr. Alpay obtained a line item expenditure report from Asst. Sup. of Business Services Clark Hampton in late February. We believe many of these expenditures on San Clemente High School (SCHS) were not eligible for Mello-Roos funding. In fact, our expert confirmed only a few line item expenditures were spent properly to expand classrooms to mitigate for the additional kids from Talega attending, and the rest was for maintenance. We also believe many of the items should have been paid for with the district's share of the regular (ad valorem) property taxes in which all of San Clemente pays. With less than 17% of Talega kids attending SCHS, Talega should not have paid for 100% of all projects that benefit the entire school. A development's mitigation for schools is listed as a fee per household for new schools and/or a percentage addition for existing schools. Once the development's mitigation obligations are complete, an additional tax levy, for the entire community, is how the school district would obtain more funding. We simply want to ensure fairness for taxpayers and seek to have all non-allowable expenditures refunded from the district General Fund to CFD 90-2 to be used on the $10.5M needs at Talega's VDM elementary and middle schools.

TALEGA RESIDENTS FOR FAIR TAXATION - Update from March 7, 2014 special CUSD Board meeting on Talega CFD 90-2 (2006 Resolution and Refinancing) MEETING SUMMARY: Board President John Alpay opened the meeting at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, March 7th, and then recused himself due to his real property interests as a Talega resident. Board Vice President Lynn Hatton-Hodson conducted the meeting. Trustee Hanacek made a motion which Trustee Hatton seconded and which supported the district dragging this issue out by hiring a law firm to do a legal audit before they consider reducing future tax levies and bring the issue back to the Board in August. Trustee Ellen Addonizio made a substitute motion to replace Trustee Hanacek's first motion. Trustee Addonizio's motion was for the Board to meet its bond indebtedness and return the excess taxes to the constituents of Talega CFD Area 90-2. Trustee Anna Bryson seconded Ellen's motion. The motion also included having the district staff and its legal counsel determine how much of the surplus taxes potentially could be returned to the taxpayers to ensure they aren't "jeopardizing the district." All but Trustee Hanacek supported this second and final motion. Though she initially hoped to abstain from voting, she was reminded that abstaining means an affirmative or YES vote, so she chose to go on the record as a NO vote, which to us demonstrates her desire to have Talega continuing paying 28% in excess taxes. What this means: We made progress. We are not done. We will need to return to a Board meeting (May) where the Board will consider staff's analysis on the percentage of surplus taxes that could be returned to taxpayers---currently CUSD is collecting 28% more in taxes from Talega than what is required to service the bond debt. The Board would need to take action and vote on this. Let's hope there are no more surprises. The district staff will conduct its assigned work on the surplus Mello-Roos tax analysis for the Board consid

why does the school board only do the right thing AFTER being caught doing the wrong thing?

To reiterate the intent of the 2006 CUSD Board Resolution No. 0506-73 which addresses Talega CFD 90-2 that was never implemented by the prior administration and board, and in which we see no ambiguity about what should be done: "the Board has determined that it has now funded all projects intended to be funded with bond proceeds of the CFD and, therefore, has determined that it is necessary and desirable for the benefit of the CFD taxpayers to reduce the CFD bond authorization by $9,345,000 which is the unissued portion of the original $50M authorization and to reduce the final term of the CFD tax levy from fiscal year 2041-42 to fiscal year 2036-37....". While within this same Resolution, a reference to the actual law wherein they recognize that the savings have to go back to the taxpayers: "In satisfaction of the requirements contained in Section 53364.2 of the Act, the Board hereby determines that any savings achieved through the issuance of the bonds shall be used to reduce special taxes of the District and such reduction shall be made in accordance with the Act."

I followed up with Superintendent Dr. Farley today (February 10, 2014) as promised. He will look into the status of our inquiry about the CFD 90-2 refinance and Resolution last discussed at the January 22nd board meeting and get back to me. I shared with him that Talega residents are eager to know when the board and staff plan to conclude this matter and especially want to know when property owners of Old Talega will see a tax reduction from the 2006 CFD 90-2 bond refinancing, like those in New Talega will soon experience from the 2013 IA 2002-1 bond refinancing. I will post as soon as I hear anything. Also, I am waiting for answers from the superintendent on some questions from residents received this past weekend but was unable to answer. I will post this "Q&A" as well once I hear back. Thank you. Laura

So, remember while growing up, exited on a Sunday morning getting ready to watch TV cartoons; specifically watching Superman? The announcer came on...”faster than a speeding bullet” etc., and... ”fighting for Truth, Justice and the American Way”. Roll that one on the tongue a few times - Truth, Justice and the American Way. Whatever happened to that??

Hello Talega Friends, Tonight's CUSD Board meeting was a late one. Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting and stuck it out! The good news is that the full $17.4 million savings from the CFD 90-2 IA 2001-2 ("new" Talega) bond refinancing was approved to be passed onto the taxpayers over the remaining duration of the bond payments. We are pleased the Board saw the validity of our arguments with regards to lawful and equitable treatment of Talega taxpayer's money. This savings affects 1,766 homes in what is considered "new Talega." Remember, this is a reversal of the Board's vote from August 2013. As for the second bond refinance done in 2006 and Resolution #0506-73 of April 2006 affecting CFD 90-2 (3,515 homes including "new" and "old" Talega) discovered by our resident CPA Marc Veale, and unknown to the current Board, the CUSD Finance Director stated he needed more time to research this one---contrary to what we were told by the school district would happen tonight. This was a surprise to us as Superintendent Farley called last Friday and said our Talega group is right in our research findings and stated that the Board planned to do the same for both Agenda Items 17 & 18 and pass on the savings to the Talega taxpayers. While we had our own resident Tax Attorney Susan Hattan (and others) review this and research the refunding law in the California Government Code (sect. 53364.2 (a) and (b)) and determine that the savings must, in accordance with the law, be passed onto taxpayers. In conclusion of this Board Agenda Item 18, Trustee Ellen Addonizio (bravo!) read the excerpt from the exact Resolution that "all savings must be returned to the taxpayers." Stay tuned on this one... Thank you Talega residents for your continuous support, and special thanks to Tim Brown (speaking as a resident, not as Mayor on behalf of the City Council) who did an outstanding job advocating for Talegans tonight in his speech to the Board of Trustees. Thanks also to Marc

YOu have no right to spend our savings

Lower our taxes!

Stop the insanity now!

12 years ago Featured

It is unconscionable that the CUSD Board decided to refund money to taxpayers in SOME of the CFD's, but not all - as quite clearly appears to be required by law!

i support the fair taxation refund of $314 to the resident of Talega

The board needs to stick to the letter of the formation documents and agreements and not take funds that are not theirs to spend.

If savings are present, they should be represented as a reduction and returned to the residents. This does not include the form of a fund or aggregation of funds but a reduction in taxes or REfund of payments reflecting savings.

The taxpayers should get the benefit of any & all savings

12 years ago Featured

As a Talega homeowner I advocate that CUSD treat Talega residents the same as Las Flores community and pass tax savings from the restructured terms to us.