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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Minutes 08/31/1977a MINUTES OF MEETING OF CITY COUNCIL PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA AUGUST . 31 19,77 , . COUNCIL MEETING A special meeting ,of, the City Council of the City of Petaluma was called'to order by Mayor Helen Putnam at the hour of 4:05 p..m. ATTENDANCE Present: Councilmen Balshaw, Bond *, Hilligoss, Perry and Mayor. Putnam. Absent: Councilmen Cavanagh and Harberson. *Councilman Bond arrived at 4c10 p.m. NOTICE OF CALL Notice of Call for Special Meeting dated August 25, . 1977, Certificate of'th'e City Clerk of the delivery of said notice and consent,of City Council for holding said meeting submit=ted and filed. PURPOSE OF MEETING The meeting was called to consider an ordinance levying rates of taxation upon the assessed valuation of the property in the City for the fiscal year July 1, 1977 through July 30, 1978. LEVY TAX RATE FOR Finance Director John Scharer reviewed a memorandum FISCAL YEAR 1977 -78 dated August 30, 1977 which he had prepared for the ORD #1261 NCS City Manager regarding the 1977 -78 tax rate. A copy of the memorandum is on file with the City Clerk. Mr. Scharer indicated his recommendation for the tax rate for the 1977 -78 fiscal year is $1.25 for General Fund purposes and $:,:24 for Deb or a total of $1.49, which is $.10 less than the rate levied in the previous year. During the work on the preliminary budget, the funds were predicated on using the $1.59 tax rate and would still have required the use of - reserve funds. The budget at that time was based'on an 8.3% increase in assessed valuation. The final assessor's valuation, ,however, is 23.2% or a variance of 14.9 %. The proposal to decrease the tax rate by $.10, i.e. $.05 in the General Fund and $.05 in the Debt Service, represents.a tax rate reduction of 6.3 %. Mr. Scharer pointed out,, however, in order to make this reduction the City will still have to utilize $332,860 of surplus funds to balance the General Fund budget. Using surplus funds to balance the General Fund budget would leave the-City with an estimated unappropriated General Fund surplus of $2.64,625, which relates to less than one month's operating cost for the City. This compares to a surplus of $718,088 four years ago. The Council then held a_ d'iscus'sion on Senate Bill 154 which is "The Property Tax Relief Bill." Mr. Scharer indicated the bill has.not yet come out of committee; however, the bill provides for total elimination of the inventory tax assessed to businesses. The elimination of the inventory tax would not affect cities as the State would reimburse cities for this loss of revenue. Basically, the Property Tax Re'lie'f Bill is a shifting of taxes and new sources of revenue would have to be found to replace those to-be eliminated. Mr. Scharer also advised SB 15`4 gives general law cities the ability to impose a utility tax. Charter cities have had this prerogative under the terms of their charters. Mr.-- Scharer also stated if SB 154 does pass through the Legislature, it would have to be voted on by the people of California as a Constitutional Amendment in the June, 1978 election.. At the conclusion of the discussion on SB 154 Mayor Putnam asked the City Clerk to read a letter which had been received from'Valentina Garzoli Magers of 18 Cochrane Way', Petaluma, regarding the assessment practices in Petaluma as well as the tax rate to be established for the fiscal year. A copy of the letter is on file with the City Clerk.. Mayor Putnam reported Councilman Hilligoss, Councilman Cavanagh, Finance Director John Scharer and she have met with Mr. Ernest Comalli, the'Sonoma County Assessor, and the problems the City is ex- periencing were pointed out to the Assessor. Mayor Putnam indicated she felt the amount of the assessed evaluation increase was very difficult to offset by a decrease in the tax rate, however, the -City °,was endeavoring to make an effort to offset some o.f the higher assessed valuations. The committee will continue to meet with the Assessor in order to determine how the assessments are arrived at in the various locations. Mayor Putnam pointed out the sales of property in Petaluma this year will not affect the tax rate or assessed valuations but will August 31, 1977 LEVY -TAX RATE:FO'R have a, bearing on future assessed valuations of pro - FISCAL YEAR 1977 -78 perty. The City Clerk was instructed to respond to Ids. ORD #1261 NCS Magerg letter. Councilman Hilligoss po n,ted. out since (Continued) only a. portion of the City h'ad been reassessed, it was not possible for the Council to lower the tax'r.at`e more. If the entire City had been reassessed and the assessed valuation ' had increased accordingly, it would have been possible to perhaps decrease the tax rate further. City Attorney Larry Klos'e advised where there are citizens 'ee who�fl they have been unfairly treated by the Assessor's Office they do have the right to challenge their assessment. It is an administrative procedure and they'do not need a lawyer but should 'take . evidence to support the fact the assessment is -too high. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to.come before the Council, the meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m.. Mayor Attest: `Deputy City Clerk.