In a dramatic turnaround for taxpayers, the Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled May 26 that a special assessment district in the community of Wildomar (in Riverside County) is invalid.
The court's ruling in Steven Beutz v. County of Riverside overturns a trial court's decision to throw out the taxpayer's suit and issue a summary judgment in favor of the county. Instead, the Court of Appeal sent the case back to the trial court with an order that it issue a judgment vacating the county resolution that created the assessment district, and invalidating the assessment levied by the Wildomar Landscape Maintenance District.
The case involved an assessment district that assessed homeowners $28 to $45 per residential dwelling unit, with the money to be used for maintaining several parks. Taxpayer Steven Beutz challenged the assessment, arguing that it violated Article XIIID of the California Constitution (Proposition 218 of 1996) because the county failed to separate the general benefits from the special benefits, and to assess homeowners only for the special benefits that would be conferred upon the assessed parcels.
The appellate court agreed, and wrote that the county "failed to meet its constitutional burden of demonstrating that the assessment was proportional to, and did not exceed, the value of the special benefits that the use and enjoyment of the parks would confer on assessed parcels."
Justice Jeffrey King wrote the opinion, with concurrence from Acting Presiding Judge Art McKinster and Justice Barton Gaut.
Cal-TaxReports, June 7, 2010
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