School District to Set Up Committee to Prep Plans for Emergency Parcel Tax

• Malibuites Invited to Participate in Measure’s Preparation

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

The Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District board of education on July 16 approved the establishment of a citizens committee to determine whether district voters would be receptive to what is being described as an “emergency and temporary parcel tax” to offset some or all of the district’s $12 million budget deficit.
The committee’s responsibilities will include reporting to the board “with a recommendation regarding the feasibility of an emergency and temporary parcel tax,” working with a polling firm “to craft questions for community input,” and working with the district’s chief financial officer on the steps necessary to place a tax on a future ballot. The committee’s report will be made no later than the Dec. 10 board meeting.
At the urging of several public speakers, the board also discussed the potential for the committee to assess the feasibility of a bond measure to fund major improvements at Santa Monica High School, as part of the district’s joint use agreement with the City of Santa Monica, which aspires to transform the campus into a community center for arts and recreation.
“I urge you to broaden scope,” Santa Monica resident and education advocate Debbie Mulvaney told the board, asking that the new committee consider a bond measure for capital improvements at Samohi as well as the emergency parcel tax to fund operating district expenses.
“The city has recently allocated $57 million for the joint use project, which is located on the Santa Monica campus,” another Samohi advocate said. “I think its beginning to look like there could be more that they could allocate. We have to do as a district anything that helps the [Santa Monica] city council members that have been advocates for more money coming to the district. We have to show the district’s good faith by attempting to look at the possibility of raising money in the district to go towards the joint use district. We do understand that the operation expenses of the district need to be addressed first, but we think that both capital and operating needs should be addressed with the operating expense coming first.”
Not everyone agreed. “The focus should be the parcel tax,” Chris Harding, who has served on the financial oversight committee, said. “That should be the top priority. I don’t think you should look at the bond issue. That can be delayed. It’s important that the board show the City of Santa Monica that they are looking at options for funding Samohi, [but the] bond measure can be looked at after. Can you ask [the pollsters] both? I take polling advice seriously.”
“My recommendation is have the committee look at the parcel tax and potential future bond issue,” District Superintendent Tim Cuneo said. “This is a considerable amount of work if they look at this in two phases,” he said.
“I don’t think we can kill two birds with one stone,” Boardmember Jose Escarce said. “We need to make sure that the focus on parcel tax is very clear, that it isn’t in any way diffusion. The truth is that going to the community for operating expenses is the only choice. I understand however completely the need to send the signal that we as a district are committed to Samohi in particular. There’s a lot of confusion between operating and capital expenses.”
Escarce was also insistent that the emphasis should be placed on the emergency nature of the parcel tax. “One of the problems with a parcel tax is that you incorporate it, you become dependent on it,” Escarce said. “I think we want to ensure as best we can that the voters get the message and that we internalize the message that it’s a temporary and emergency measure. That it doesn’t become incorporated in our cost structure. That’s a message we need to send to that committee. Add the words ‘emergency and temporary.’ It’s a minor change but really does send the message that we aren’t planning to incorporate the tax forever.”
The board agreed to establish the committee with the caveat that the district will come back with language establishing the “criteria and depth” of charges of the committee—whether both the parcel tax and the proposed bond can be addressed by the one committee, or if the focus should remain on the parcel tax.
Members of the public who are interesting in serving on the committee can download an application from the district’s website, www.smmusd.org. Applications are due by Aug. 11, and will be reviewed by a subcommittee of the board of education.