County school parcel taxes, May mail ballots

The Mercury News/Education/Sharon Noguchi, 4/29/16. "School taxes in three districts on Tuesday ballots." 

School parcel taxes:
Menlo Park, Brisbane,
Los Gatos-Saratoga

Casting my May mail-in ballot,
I voted yes of course!.

....  "In an unusual move, the Menlo Park City School District is seeking to renew an existing $201 parcel tax, and levy a second variable-rate one. If passed, it could be the first parcel tax in California to fluctuate with enrollment. ....Measure A would continue a previous flat-rate parcel tax, approved in 2010 at $178 per parcel, with an inflation adjuster. That tax has reached $201 per parcel and is set to expire in 2017. If it passes, the existing tax would expire a year early as the new one kicks in.
Neither tax proposal has a sunset clause.  ---  In total, property owners in the Menlo Park City School District currently pay $851 in parcel taxes to the district, which runs three elementary schools and one middle school. If both measures pass, the parcel tax bill would grow to at least $1,320 per year, adjusted for inflation.

At the other end of the county, the Brisbane School District is seeking to renew and increase a parcel tax passed five years ago. Measure B would impose a six-year, $131 parcel tax. It would raise more than $400,000 to support reading, art and music. The existing parcel tax is $119.

In the Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District, Measure A would extend for eight years a $49 parcel tax. The current tax generates $955,000 annually for teacher salaries and classroom materials, and accounts for about 2 percent of the district's budget."  Read more.

Note photograph/graphic.  Mail box from Franklin County (FL), absentee ballot. Ballot box graphic from The American Chestnut Foundation.

Posted by Kathy Meeh