Council Approves Special Tax for Planned Development

The Menifee City Council Wednesday approved the formation of a Community Facilities District covering the site of a planned housing development in order to assess a special tax on future property owners there.

According to the proposal approved by unanimous vote, the tax on homeowners of the proposed 359 single-family residential units would help cover the cost of additional police personnel in the city as well as maintenance of street lights and roads in the new community.

The district includes Menifee Heights, a community to be developed by CV Communities at 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.

CV Communities bought the 70-acre parcel from RCFC Investments LLC in May 2014, according to the website iebusinessdaily.com.

According to the proposal presented by city staff to council members, 63 percent of the city's current general fund revenue of $27.5 million goes toward police and fire services. Even at that, the city falls well below the guideline of one officer per 1,000 residents. Menifee's total of approximately 25 patrol officers leaves the city with an understaffed percentage of about .55 officers for every 1,000 residents.

City Manager Rob Johnson told council members that the cost of public safety in the growing City of Menifee is increasing 3-5 percent per year. The city's share of sales and property tax is not sufficient to afford additional public safety officers, he said.

"This proposes the ability for the city to access new revenue on new homes that can be paid directly for police services," Johnson said.

Shane Spicer of Webb Associates, consultant to the developer, said homeowners in the new development would pay separate taxes of $219 for maintenance of their development and $516 to go toward public safety. This would be on top of their regular property tax.

"This is becoming a more common practice with cities," Spicer said. "We've done this in Wildomar, Lake Elsinore and other local cities. Cities used to have the two taxes approved separately. The benefit of getting them approved jointly is you go through the process one time, even though keeping the costs separate.

"The goal is to mitigate the impact of services their property would have, both to the maintenance function of the facilities and the future impact to safety services. There's a need for additional officers as you get a multitude of development occurring. That would all have to come from the general funds that are generated from property values, and we know we just came through a recession which reduced the general fund budgets in a number of communities that have faced this issue."

The developer would be obligated to disclose the additional tax to potential homeowners in that development when it is being built. Residents living outside that Community Facilities District would not be affected by the special tax.

"I have mixed feelings about levies on a new development," said council member Greg August. "In an ideal world, I would oppose this. But this isn't an ideal world; this is based on reality. To match the demand for public safety, this a move out of necessity, not want."