Opinion: SLO Farm Bureau asks locals to vote no on Prop. 15
To watch the 2-minute video from the event, click here.
–The San Luis Obispo County Farm Bureau has released a video asking locals to vote no on Prop. 15, a newly proposed property tax.
The video includes local farmers, ranchers, the SLO County Assessor, and business leaders who explain Prop. 15’s impacts to San Luis Obispo County.
“Help stop the biggest tax hike in California’s history, vote no on Prop 15!,” the farm bureau says. “San Luis Obispo County Farm Bureau assembled a coalition of local leaders this week to spread the word about the negative effects Proposition 15 will have on our agriculture and business community.”
Speakers included:
- Farm Bureau Board Member and Arroyo Grande farmer Tom Ikeda
- San Luis Obispo County Assessor Tom Bordonaro
- San Luis Obispo County Cattlemen’s Association President Anthony Stornetta
- South County Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Jocelyn Brennan
- San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Jim Dantona
- San Luis Obispo County Farm Bureau Executive Director Brent Burchett
To watch the 2-minute video from the event, click here. “Please share this video with your friends and help us defeat Prop 15. Recent polling showed a virtual dead-heat on this initiative, so every vote matters!”
Prop. 15 impact report by SLO County Assessor
1. Proposition 15 would make major changes to the property tax system in California. The creation of a “Split Roll” which results from the Constitutional amendment is a dramatic change from Proposition 13, which has governed property tax for the past 42 years.
2. Although Proposition 15 states there is no change to tax laws affecting agriculture, the exact opposite is true. Dairies, wineries, feedlots, barns, methane digesters and even mature fruit and nut trees will be subject to big tax increases.
3. Property taxes are stable and predictable under the current Constitutional requirements of Proposition 13. With the passage of a Split Roll, property tax revenues will experience wild volatility similar to the state personal income tax.
4. Implementation of Proposition 15 in San Luis Obispo will be impossible within the time frame outlined in the measure. An initial first-year budgetary cost to the County Assessor’s Office of $3.2 million and ongoing costs of $2 million, exceed the new property tax revenue that can be expected from the change to market valuation for commercial and industrial properties.
5. To implement the measure, 11 additional employees will be required in the Assessor’s Office. Hiring and training of appraisers to perform the valuation commercial properties is extremely problematic, given the demand for appraisers
that will result throughout the state.
6. A dramatic increase in the number of assessment appeals will result from the passage of Proposition 15. This will require additional staff and budgetary expense for other county departments involved in assessment appeals.
7. More than 3,000 individual commercial and industrial property appraisals will be required each year. The market value appraisals must be accomplished at least every three years, but can be more frequent.
8. The Split Roll does not pay for itself for San Luis Obispo County government. The three major parts of Proposition 15 require the following: A) Commercial and industrial property appraisal at least every three years; B) Exemption of Business Personal Property valued at $500,000 and below; C) Additional cost to the County to implement the changes to the property tax valuation system. The net effect of these mandates can be approximated at $398,000 tax revenue gain to the County. However, this will be offset by more than $2 million of new costs. This results in a revenue loss of $1.8 million per year to fund San Luis Obispo County government.
9. A thorough review of the impact of a Split Roll conducted by the California Assessors’ Association (CAA) and verified by Capital Matrix, concludes that Proposition 15 will increase costs between $460 and $560 million statewide. Based upon this analysis and near impossibility of meeting time-lines to implement Proposition 15, California’s 58 elected County Assessors are in opposition to the ballot measure.
Read the SLO County Assessor’s full Prop. 15 Impact Report here.
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