Bill Comes Due in Form of Assessments : Finances: Cities and school districts are turning to the fee process to make up for property tax revenue they are losing to the state.

SAN GABRIEL VALLEY — Property tax bills have a lot more on them than property taxes these days.

Every San Gabriel Valley city has tacked fees onto the bills to help pay for upkeep of everything from street lighting to fire and paramedic service.

And now public school districts are getting into the act. Bonita and Claremont school districts have created their own maintenance assessment districts, charging property owners for upkeep of school recreational facilities that are open to the public.

Claremont’s Board of Education voted unanimously last month to assess a flat fee that will add $97 to local property tax bills, which already list a $100 fee for landscaping and street lighting in the city.

Officials expect the popularity of assessment districts to grow in the San Gabriel Valley because cities are facing the loss of thousands of dollars--in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars--in property tax revenue to schools under the new state budget.

In the past, such fees were commonly assessed on a small number of houses to pay for street improvements such as lighting. But after Proposition 13, a 1978 state initiative requiring two-thirds voter approval for tax increases, the number of assessment districts mushroomed. Cash-strapped cities are looking to them again for revenue.

“Cities used utility taxes to balance their budgets last year. This year cities are turning to assessments,” said David Dong, community services director in Monterey Park. “They have no choice given the state is taking their money.”

Among the new annual or higher assessments approved this year or under consideration:

* South Pasadena is considering a lighting and landscaping maintenance district fee of $73 to $110, and a $38.93 fee for fire and paramedic services.

* Monterey Park established a $39.97 fee for landscaping and lighting.

* Temple City increased its landscaping and lighting fee 11% to $44.

* Alhambra increased its landscaping and lighting fee 5% to $85.39.

* La Verne increased its landscaping and lighting fee 3.6% to $99.

* Azusa is considering charging property owners $6.20 a year in fire and landscaping fees.

* Bonita Unified School District is expected to increase its maintenance fee to $35, up 81%.

* West Covina is considering increasing its sewer district fee from $17.74 to $21.95, and its landscaping and lighting fee, which varies by zone.

* Pomona will raise its landscaping and lighting fee in some areas, including an increase from $241 to $277 in one zone.

* San Dimas is expected to increase its landscaping and lighting fee to $56.88, a $5 increase for homeowners.

* Walnut increased its landscaping and lighting fee by 9% to 18%.

Monterey Park is the latest city to create one of these maintenance assessment districts. Last month, the City Council voted to assess property owners to raise $900,000 annually for landscaping and lighting.

“The city of Monterey Park is broke and someone has to pay,” Councilman Fred Balderrama said. The city will lose at least $726,000 in property tax revenue to the state this year.

As more cities turn to assessment districts, homeowners are organizing in protest. In Monterey Park, South Pasadena and Claremont, the opposition is especially fierce.

About 150 angry property owners packed the Monterey Park council chamber the night the council voted 4 to 1 to impose the assessment. Opponents vowed to oust some council members in the November election.

In South Pasadena, where the council has tentatively approved a landscaping and lighting district and a fire suppression district, a local taxpayer group is organizing a protest. The final vote is scheduled July 21.

In Claremont, more than 200 people packed school board headquarters in June and jeered officials as they tried to explain the need for the assessments. Many claimed that the fees are simply taxes that should be put to a vote.

The homeowners have won support from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., which is fighting the fees across the state. The group has assisted in protests in South Pasadena and Monterey Park.

“Most (assessment districts) now are thinly disguised property taxes with no additional benefit for the property owner,” said Joel Fox, president of the association.

Fox said the fees circumvent Proposition 13 because most assessment districts can be imposed without a vote of residents or property owners. The Jarvis group is backing legislation authored by state Sen. Bill Leonard (R-Upland) and Assemblyman Charles W. Quackenbush (R-San Jose) that would require a majority of voters to approve maintenance assessments.

Most districts were established under the 1972 Landscape and Lighting Act, which does not require a public vote to assess fees.

Although a few cities such as La Verne have put the fees before voters, most opt not to. La Verne’s landscaping and lighting district was overwhelmingly approved by voters in November, 1990.

Under the 1972 act, Monterey Park, South Pasadena and the Claremont Unified School District mailed written notices of the proposed fees to homeowners and scheduled public hearings.

Cities and school districts can be forced to abandon the fees if those owning more than 50% of property in the proposed assessment district file a written protest.

Opponents in Monterey Park failed to reach the 50% threshold: the 1,004 protest letters represented only 6.58% of property in the city.

Tina Martin, who led the protest, said homeowners did not have enough time to organize. They had only 45 days to protest the fees, and the city did not provide formal protest forms.

South Pasadena Mayor James C. Hodge Jr. defended the protest rules, saying 45 days is enough time for homeowners to respond. Besides, Hodge said, the protest system allows only those affected--property owners--to vote.

In South Pasadena, assessment opponents face an additional hurdle; they must provide a copy of photo identification with their objection. The city is considering assessments that would cost the average homeowner $38.93 for fire suppression and between $73.78 and $109.74 for landscaping and lighting.

Unlike most assessment districts, fire suppression districts have to be put to voters if property owners controlling just 5% of the property object.

A state Supreme Court decision in December, 1992, opened the door to what critics say is a limitless number of assessments. The court ruled that assessments only have to benefit people, not property. Critics say virtually every government function could be financed by assessments that never go before voters.

Adding to the momentum for assessments, the state Court of Appeal in May ruled that school districts can assess property owners to pay for public use of recreational facilities.

The Bonita Unified School District, which serves San Dimas and La Verne, and the Whittier Union High School District won the ruling against the Jarvis group, which sued the school systems in 1991. The Jarvis group plans to appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court.

Under the 1972 Landscape and Lighting Act, the Bonita school system established a maintenance district to renovate gymnasiums, resurface basketball and tennis courts and sod playing fields.

Robert M. Green, school board president, said the court decision recognizes that public schools are open to the public for uses other than education, and educational dollars need not be used to maintain recreational facilities.

School board members in Claremont picked up the baton June 28, voting to create a maintenance assessment district across the school district that includes the city, county areas and north Pomona.

The school district turned to the maintenance assessment district method after it failed to win two-thirds voter approval for a $97 property tax in November, 1991.

Angry Claremont homeowners organized a protest but only those owning 3.3% of property mailed in notice of their opposition, far short of the 50% required.

Board President Paul Held said the $1.2 million raised to cover recreational area maintenance will free up money for classroom supplies. “If there’s any additional money it is to be used to extend the number of minutes in the (school) day and the number of days in the (school) year.”