Alameda Parcel Tax Ruling: No Impact Yet in West County

West Contra Costa schools face no immediate financial losses in the wake of a California Court of Apeal ruling Wednesday declaring a school parcel tax in Alameda partially invalid, said West Contra Costa Unified School District board member Charles Ramsey.

Affirming its earlier ruling in December, the Court of Appeal said that a parcel tax for the Alameda Unified School District, Measure H, was partially illegal under state law requiring school district taxes to "apply uniformly" to all taxpayers and property. Measure H applied different rates to residential and commercial properties.

The court sent the case, Borikas v. Alameda Unified School District, back to Alameda County Superior Court, which had originally upheld the tax in a lawsuit filed in 2008 by George Borikas. 

The attorney representing the plaintiffs in the suit, David Brilliant, subsequently filed parcel tax cases against West Contra Costa and other school districts in Alameda, Los Angeles and Yolo counties.

Ramsey said the suit would not apply to the current parcel tax in West Contra Costa because the deadline for challenging that tax had expired under the statue of limitations and would therefore apply only to Measure G, passed by voters in November and not set to take effect until next year.

And the only part of Measure G that could be affected, he said, is the different treatment of vacant property, meaning a potential loss of about $200,000 out of estimated annual revenues of about $10 million.

"Ours is uniform except for vacant property," he said.

The Alameda Unified School District has said the Court of Appeal decision could result in a substantial financial loss of $7.4 million if the district is forced to pay money back to taxpayers.

In its ruling Wednesday, the Court of Appeal sent the case back to Alameda County Superior Court, which has originally rejected the lawsuit and upheld the tax.

The Alamedan reported today, Thursday, that Alameda schools superintendent Kirsten Vital said the district is reviewing the decision and will discuss the next steps with the school board at its next meeting.

Brilliant,said in a statement today said his clients in the Alameda case and the other parcel tax suits are "very pleased" with the decision.

"At this point," Brilliant said, "the case will either return to Alameda County Superior Court for hearings on the refund amount and interest due to the taxpayers or move to the California Supreme Court. As we know, the Board of Trustees voted 4-1 in December to move this case to the Supreme Court. We will know their next move within 40 days. Taxpayers should be pleased with this result but again I caution that we are still far away from the potential large refunds due to taxpayers.” 

Alameda's Measure H expired after three years and was replaced by Measure A, which has withstood legal challenge and is not threatened, according to the district.

The Wednesday Court of Appeal ruling, written by Justice James Marchiano, said, "Measure H has laudatory goals to provide critically needed additional school financing for the Alameda Unified School District; but we cannot rewrite an enabling statute, nor enlarge or contract it, where the words do not allow any other plain meaning."