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Chico Enterprise-Record (Chico, CA)

March 2, 2005

Property tax hike proposed to ease budget woes in Chico school district

CHRIS GULLICK - Staff Writer

"Talking about taxes is never fun," said William Berry of William Berry Campaigns, a consultancy firm in Sacramento. Berry, a Chico native, addressed concerned people who met Tuesday to explore the possibility of creating a parcel tax to support local schools. Berry's own parents were among the group.

Rick Rees, a trustee of the Chico Unified School District board, explained it was an exploratory meeting and not a campaign meeting.

Those present were interested in learning about the process of creating a ballot measure and its feasibility to ease the school district's budget crunch.

Berry talked about the legalities, the process, the politics and campaign strategies. He provided information about parcel taxes and ballot measures, as well as statistics from other school districts.

A parcel tax, Berry explained, is a vote of the people to include a fee on their property taxes which is dedicated to a specific purpose. They're perhaps the only way to provide secure funding for "soft" costs, such as teacher salaries and supplies, and for programs such as music or sports. Most parcel taxes are written with a sundown, so they typically last only five to seven years.

Parcel tax measures often include exemptions for senior citizens, too. As a special tax, they require a two-thirds majority of voters to pass.

Berry assured the room that they were not meeting in a void. He said, "There's not a district in the country that's not having meetings like this."

Passing a parcel tax measure is not easy, though, he explained. In 2004, there were at least 64 parcel tax measures on ballots and only 24 were passed.

Only 55 of California's 1,000 districts have passed one.

Bond measures, which are typically used for new construction, are easier to pass mainly because they can be passed with a simple majority vote. Also, Berry speculated voters avoid something called a "tax" or he said, "Voters are more inclined to build stuff than to pay people."

The first step in the process would be to conduct a poll, which would take about three or four weeks to complete at a cost of about $21,500. A poll would give the group an idea if a parcel tax has any support in the community.

The entire ballot measure process takes about four months to complete and costs at least $150,000. Costs could run as high as $250,000, and most of that would need to come from small businesses or private citizens.

Although the process of writing a measure and conducting a vote is lengthy and couldn't help with next year's budget, the tax would ease budget crunches in years ahead.

Berry advised starting the poll immediately and keeping a November ballot as an option. But a poll would tell them a lot. He said, "If there's any organized opposition, you'll lose."

Gail Wellman, of Forest Ranch, brought up the issue of the bond measure that was passed for a high school that is still not built. She wondered if a parcel tax measure could succeed with that in mind. "How do we answer for not building the high school?" she asked.

Berry responded that it was a problem. He said any group proposing a new tax would have to answer that question. After probing for reasons why the high school wasn't built, he said the answer is probably complex, but a one-sentence answer would need to be found.

Staff writer Chris Gullick can be reached at 896-7760 or cgullick@chicoer.com.