The majority of school district funds come from property taxes. Property values have appreciated substantially in the last couple of years (= more revenue for city).

Parcel taxes disproportionately place the burden on single family property owners, while exempting seniors, people who vote the most.

We already pay more than other districts. Here are school district parcel taxes for other districts from 2015 property tax bills:

Burlingame $256
Foster City $304.58
Menlo Park $851.56
Las Lomitas $361
Hillsborough $630.20
Palo Alto $758
Woodside $281.52
Portola Valley $581
San Carlos $246.60

And they want to increase it to >1000 dollars. They need to learn to balance the budget instead of asking for more money all the time. We're not all made of money.

Quit asking us for money. As Ju has shown we pay more already then other cities. Learn to balance your budget and quit coming to the residents when you need more money. The time has come to say NO NO NO MORE TAXES

Seniors are not automatically exempt from these taxes. They have to apply to the school district every year for the exemption. Older people on fixed incomes struggle to pay all the taxes already implemented, which increase every year. Don't blame seniors. Blame the greedy school district which already gets funds from the Foundation, these bond taxes, state taxes, the lottery .... and it still isn't enough?

While it's true that our school district doesn't get extra dollars for each additional student, the reality is that property taxes (our school's primary source of funding) are generally directly tied to student enrollment: an increase in the number of students in our school district usually implies increased demand for housing. That demand fuels more home sales and remodels. With each home sale or remodel, the property tax amount jumps upward (beyond the Prop 13 norm). So it's disingenuous if the school district tries to argue that they need more parcel taxes to cover the increased student population.

Yes, our school district is one of the best. And yes, our schools do help our community in a number of ways ranging from property values to safer neighborhoods. But those same attributes already feed into the property tax assessment values. That should be enough....

Nobody is blaming seniors. Just pointing out how unfair parcel taxes are. The reason why almost every school parcel tax allows senior exemptions is to make it easier to pass. Seniors have the highest voter turnout among all age groups. So they are more likely to vote for it if they know they can opt out. Of course, they don’t make the process easy, since exemptions must be applied for annually. They know that some seniors will forget to apply. It also unfairly burdens poorer homeowners, since all parcels pay the same amount.

In addition, parcel taxes are NOT DEDUCTIBLE against federal and state income taxes (though most homeowners still deduct their entire property tax bill).
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That “only $1.50 a day” is costing you more than you think.

Parcel taxes aside, the problem is a free spending MPCSD with a budget that keeps growing exponentially compared to enrollment numbers. They have a projected deficit of >$4 million by 2017/18 (in a boom economy and increasing revenues). We need to stop this behavior by not giving them any more money.

Just to note, FTB is not enforcing non deductibility of parcel taxes due to different interpretation by the IRS. But if they decide to "reinterpret" the rules again, we could all owe a lot more taxes.

I will donate money to any candidate that opposes raising my taxes. In other words any board member that votes for more taxes, I will donate to any of your opponents.

Read my lips No New Taxes.

Has anyone seen the Hillview campus, It's superior to Menlo. I know, I sent my kids to both.

I can afford it and still say No, There are lots of people who can't afford it.

JC, quit spending our money.

Parcel taxes are regressive taxes. Homeowners of smaller properties would be hurt disproportionately more than others. So would seniors who are usually on fixed incomes; remember they have paid throughout their lives in support of our school systems. I have no problems allowing exemptions for them.

What about a tax on commercial properties, and not a regressive one that would harm smaller businesses. Commercial properties that turn over infrequently have not paid their fair sure to educating our children, their current and future workforce.

This is why we have 20 trillion dollars in debt they just cant stop spending

Ithe next time landlords renegotiate a new lease they will account for new expenses
$1000 a year is a lot of money some of us landlords have tried to not raise rents but will need to pass it on

Beaureucrats

Thank you Ju for providing so much intelligent information.

Vote No on new taxes.

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