City Council Delays Action on Proposed Special Tax

The Menifee City Council Wednesday delayed the final decision on a special tax that would be assessed homeowners in a planned housing development.

Council members voted unanimously in favor of Matt Liesemeyer's motion to continue the agenda item to a date to be determined. Approval of the ordinance would create a facilities district covering a development by CV Communities that would include 359 single-family residences. Residents buying homes when they are built would be assessed a special tax of $735.

The housing development, to be called Menifee Heights, is planned for the southwest corner of Briggs Road and Holland Road. The site is located southeast of Southshore Elementary School in a rural area of open fields.

The special tax for that facilities district would be assessed in addition to regular property taxes. It would include separate taxes of $219 for maintenance of roads and street lights in the district and $516 to help fund additions to the police force.

The tax to fund police would not provide additional officers specific to that district, however. It would simply help take some of the burden off the city's general fund to pay for police services throughout the city.

"Additional officers would not just be assigned to those neighborhoods," said Mayor Scott Mann, who was not present at the March 4 meeting when the ordinance was approved for a second reading on Wednesday. "I don't think it's fair for buyers of those new homes to carry that burden alone. At the same time, I'm not ready to spread the pain throughout all residents."

Mann agreed with Liesemeyer that it was wise to take more time to study the issue.

"After we took that vote, it appears we may have acted in haste," Liesemeyer said. "I would like to explore other avenues to get that funding."

The primary concern appears to be the need to get additional funding to increase the police force. The city now has an average of less than half an officer for every 1,000 residents. The guideline is one officer per 1,000 residents. City officials are concerned that the city's budget will not handle rising costs of police protection.

"We're looking at a $1.49 million encroachment on the budget for public safety," Mann said. "I'm not sure this facility district would get us where we need to be in that regard. I thank staff for working hard to lessen the burden on the general fund, but maybe we need to take the process a little slower."

Adrian Peters, director of development for Brookfield Residential, told council members he was not in favor of such a means for raising funds for public safety. Although his company is not involved in the development of Menifee Heights, Peters said he feared the impact of such taxes on future home buyers.

"Police protection is important to everybody," he said. "But I believe there are other means of raising these funds without saddling future homeowners with extra costs because of current problems."

While following council's direction to explore other options during postponement of action on the ordinance, City Manager Rob Johnson defended his staff's efforts to find means of additional funds for public safety.

"This isn't something we just dreamed up out of nowhere," Johnson said. "We have really good public safety numbers, but as the population goes up, crime is likely to increase."

Johnson said he has consulted with other cities, such as Lake Elsinore and Perris, which have created similar facilities districts for this purpose.