Calabasas Ca Taxes

Agoura Hills and Calabasas have received a temporary reprieve from a state Supreme Court ruling that may eventually force the two cities to return to taxpayers millions of dollars collected over the past three years. The court in September upheld a 1986 state ballot measure--Proposition 62--that requires voter approval of general and special taxes. Calabasas has collected $1.7 million annually in utility taxes without voter approval since it incorporated in 1992; Agoura Hills has collected $1.

Each of the four landscape maintenance districts within the city of Calabasas was upheld in a vote of homeowners, allowing the city to continue collecting fees to care for the common landscaped areas. Proposition 218 gave residents the chance to decide whether to continue paying into or to dismantle the districts in a mail-in election concluded on July 2. About 60% of the city's property owners pay $2.4 million annually into the districts, said Bill Millar, city landscape district manager.

A public hearing will be held Tuesday on Las Virgenes Municipal Water District's proposal to renew a controversial parcel tax implemented last year to raise money for the fiscally strapped agency. Since July, the district has charged landowners $10 for any one-acre or smaller parcel, and $10 per acre for parcels larger than one acre. The district says the $500,000 it expects to take in annually from the tax will go toward upkeep of drinking-water delivery facilities.

A controversial parcel tax enacted last year by Las Virgenes Municipal Water District has been renewed by the agency's board of directors. Since July, the district has charged landowners $10 a year for any parcel of one acre or smaller, and $10 per acre for parcels larger than an acre. The district says the $500,000 it expects to realize annually from the tax will help maintain drinking water delivery facilities.

The city of Calabasas is considering creation of a special assessment district to raise $10 million to revamp streets in the western part of the city to accommodate a growing volume of traffic. The City Council will vote at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at City Hall on whether to hire a financial consultant to study the idea.

The Calabasas City Council will vote tonight on whether to do away with an old ordinance that exempts federal and state officials from paying a 12% hotel bed tax when they come to the city on business. Mayor Karyn Foley said she supports the idea of doing away with the exemption. "I don't think it's fair," she said. "We would like to get as many tax dollars as we can."

The future of Calabasas rests in a weed-choked lot at the end of a freeway off-ramp. Tucked in the city's otherwise scenic west end, the lot is the proposed site of a Price Club discount store. But more is at stake than building an industrial cavern where suburbanites can buy five-gallon tubs of mayonnaise and crates of toilet paper.

The city of Calabasas' sales tax revenues dropped almost 13.6% over the first quarter of this year, reversing a 2.9% increase in the last quarter of 1993, according to city records. The city took in about $272,000 in sales taxes during the first three months of 1994, said City Manager Charles Cate. That's down from about $315,000 for the same period in 1993. "That's a matter of some concern," Cate said. "We'll be monitoring the situation."

Each of the four landscape maintenance districts within the city of Calabasas was upheld in a vote of homeowners, allowing the city to continue collecting fees to care for the common landscaped areas. Proposition 218 gave residents the chance to decide whether to continue paying into or to dismantle the districts in a mail-in election concluded on July 2. About 60% of the city's property owners pay $2.4 million annually into the districts, said Bill Millar, city landscape district manager.

Agoura Hills and Calabasas have received a temporary reprieve from a state Supreme Court ruling that may eventually force the two cities to return to taxpayers millions of dollars collected over the past three years. The court in September upheld a 1986 state ballot measure--Proposition 62--that requires voter approval of general and special taxes. Calabasas has collected $1.7 million annually in utility taxes without voter approval since it incorporated in 1992; Agoura Hills has collected $1.

The city of Calabasas is considering creation of a special assessment district to raise $10 million to revamp streets in the western part of the city to accommodate a growing volume of traffic. The City Council will vote at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at City Hall on whether to hire a financial consultant to study the idea.

The Calabasas City Council will vote tonight on whether to do away with an old ordinance that exempts federal and state officials from paying a 12% hotel bed tax when they come to the city on business. Mayor Karyn Foley said she supports the idea of doing away with the exemption. "I don't think it's fair," she said. "We would like to get as many tax dollars as we can."

The city of Calabasas' sales tax revenues dropped almost 13.6% over the first quarter of this year, reversing a 2.9% increase in the last quarter of 1993, according to city records. The city took in about $272,000 in sales taxes during the first three months of 1994, said City Manager Charles Cate. That's down from about $315,000 for the same period in 1993. "That's a matter of some concern," Cate said. "We'll be monitoring the situation."

The future of Calabasas rests in a weed-choked lot at the end of a freeway off-ramp. Tucked in the city's otherwise scenic west end, the lot is the proposed site of a Price Club discount store. But more is at stake than building an industrial cavern where suburbanites can buy five-gallon tubs of mayonnaise and crates of toilet paper.