Culture

Editorial: Voters, here’s what they’re trying to hide about local bond measures


Click here for a complete list of our election recommendations.

The first thing voters should know about local bond measures on their ballots is that they are also property tax increases.

Each measure authorizes a local city or school district to borrow funds by issuing bonds — and the measure contains a new property tax to pay off those loans. That tax usually lasts for at least 30 years.

Unfortunately, most of the elected officials sponsoring these measures don’t want you to know that. That’s why the ballot wording emphasizes the good stuff the money will buy and hides the tax component.

While state law requires the agencies to specify the amount of the property tax increase, it doesn’t require them to call it what it is. Each election season, we marvel at the tortured syntax most cities and school districts employ to try to avoid using the word tax. (One school district was a refreshing exception this year.)

Eighteen South Bay and East Bay cities and school districts placed bond measures on the current ballots. We have evaluated eight of the largest proposals.

For all voters facing local bond measures, we encourage you not to stop with the wording on the ballot. And don’t just read the first part of the information in the official voter guide from the elections office.

BALLOT WORDING RATINGS
The Alameda County Grand Jury Association has rated the accuracy and fairness of the ballot wording for measures in that county. It’s instructional about what to look out for, even if you don’t live in Alameda County. To read their ratings, go to: https://bit.ly/ballotwording.

Be sure to look for the “tax rate statement.” In Contra Costa and Alameda counties, you’ll usually find it toward the beginning of the material for the ballot measure.

Santa Clara County election officials bury this critical statement behind all the legal text of the measure, making it harder to find. Keep flipping the pages until you find it.

The tax increases are usually expressed as an amount for every $100,000 of assessed value. The assessed value is not the same as the actual value of your property. You’ll find your assessed value on your property tax bill.

With that background, here are our evaluations and recommendations for the eight measures.

E – City of Sunnyvale ($290 million)

Property tax increase: $25 per $100,000 of assessed value for the first year, 2027. For a house with a city average assessed value of $885,000, that works out to $221. The tax rate would decline most years after that until the bonds are paid off in 2051.

What it buys: A new, modern, 120,000-square-foot, three-story, architecturally exciting library to replace the city’s 64-year-old facility.

Ballot language: Misleading. Never mentions the word tax.

Recommendation: Yes. The new library would be a huge community asset as part of modernizing the 26-acre Civic Center campus that also includes City Hall and the public safety headquarters.

I – City of Santa Clara ($400 million)

Property tax increase: Starting at $28 per $100,000 of assessed value in 2026 and declining for …read more

Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment

      

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