"..over what some call an imbalance between what the town's taxpayers contribute to the district and the cost of the district's service to Atherton."


Atherton residents pay far more taxes to the Federal government than they pay to the Town.

Atherton residents pay far more taxes to the State government than they pay to the Town.

Atherton residents pay far more taxes to the County government than they pay to the Town.

Atherton residents pay far more taxes to the school districts than they pay to the Town.

Why has the Town Council has never asked any of those entities how much they spend providing services to the residents of the Town?

For example Atherton property owners pay 2.2 times as much property taxes to the County than they do to the Town - what is the cost of the County services that are provided to those Atherton property owners? Has the Town even bothered to ask the County how much they spend on services within the boundaries of the Town?

And 25% of the County’s expenditures are for “public protection”.

Given that Atherton has its own excellent Police Department how much of that County “public protection” is provided to Atherton?

Why doesn’t the Town just petition LAFCO to detach the Town from the County so it can become the Town and County of Atherton?

The taxes Atherton pays the county are less about services for Atherton and more about having to deal with Atherton.

Interesting juxtaposition of issues in one article. Atherton says the fire district is costing too much money. At the same time, they want to give free housing in addition to high salaries, benefits and pensions to the police department. What is the actual guiding principle here?