Steve Frisch’s Recent Comments

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  Its more complicated

  Thanks for presenting this information about the Williamson Act. The Williamson Act has been an important and effective tool for the preservation of farm and ranchlands in California for more than 40 years and should be fully funded in our state budget. I encourage everyone reading to contact legislators and tell them to preserve the Williamson Act.

  But the sad truth is that the Williamson Act, and the limited amount of local property tax relief it provides, is woefully inadequate to protect farm and ranchlands in California from development.  Agriculturalists may see property tax relief of a few dollars and acre as a result of the Williamson Act. An analysis done in Plumas County California shows a landowner savings of about $1.37 per acre of ranchland. For the average landowner this is welcome relief, but nowhere near enough to affect their long-range decisions about land management and eventually sale for rural residential subdivision.

  The real problem in California is much more complex that the retention or elimination of the Williamson Act.

  Proposition 13, passed by California voters in 1978, capped property tax to no more than 1% of the value of real property per year. Prop 13 also created a new 2/3 threshold for future increases in taxes, including sales and income taxes, and capped the growth of value in real property to no more than 2% per year. That means that if your real estate base value was $100,000, and real value increased 25% in 5 years (to $125K) your tax would be calculated on the capped 2% per year (or $110K). Multiply this inequity over 30 years in a state with 60% home ownership and you begin to understand the problem.

  This had the effect of lower property taxes in California by approximately 57% and disrupting the entire finance structure of the state.

  It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out what this did to the financial structure of the state. Property owners were protected and enriched by Prop 13, but all kinds of new taxes were created that encouraged the conversion of land from agricultural uses to rural residential, commercial and industrial uses.

  Property owners who owned property for a long time have benefited from inequities built into the system in the amount of local property tax paid based on reassessment at time of sale, leading to dramatic differences in taxes paid on similar properties.

  Commercial real estate developers benefited by keeping property in the same corporation while deeding or merging it to new owners, thus retaining lower property tax rates.

  Affordable housing has disappeared as the cost of development of new property has skyrocketed in order to make up for the tax base lots with the passage of Prop 13.

  California education was gutted as local tax revenue declined and new schemes to fund education through state government were concocted.

  Today in California cities and counties compete like vultures for sales tax dollars (as evidenced by the dueling big box stores circumnavigating our urban centers), for transient occupancy tax dollars (as evidenced by the sprouting cookie cutter lodging centers facing the big box retailers) and for impact fees (as evidenced by the trading of corporate welfare for sales tax dollars by negotiating fees through development agreements).

  The bottom line in California is that the property tax collected does not even begin to pay for the services in the form of infrastructure, public safety and public good that property owners receive.

  All of this leads to the annual dance. The governors (Davis and Schwarzenegger) propose the elimination of services and taxes to local governments, the locals scream unfair and negotiate a deal at the last minute, the Williamson Act (and other proposed cuts) get saved at the last minute and everyone thinks they have done something important.

  Meanwhile the core issue, the unfair and unconscionable government subsidy of services to property owners through Proposition 13, which is the greatest welfare program ever perpetrated on the citizens of California, is unchanged and unchallenged. The poor, the ill housed, those without health care and the clients of public education suffer.

  The proposals to kill the Williamson Act will continue, year after year, until California voter overturn Prop 13 and come up with a more fair and equitable tax structure that appropriately shares tax revenue between local and state government and eliminates the subsidy that favors the propertied over those starting out in life.  On Schwarzenegger to California farmers: Considuh this a divorce posted 2 years, 5 months ago 4 Responses

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  Environmentalism as religion

  I would add a third bullet to the response: environmental values are consistent with religious values and can be held as a concurrently.

  I am hoping that the environmental movement can begin to understand that to achieve real results we need to connect to the values of mainstream American culture, which identifies itself as religious, and use existing value systems to leverage change.

  Religous values that can be used to support environmentalism include: a committment to stewardship of creation, a commitment to social and economic justice, and a commitment to promoting the health and well being of families and children. On What does the accusation mean and how should greens respond? posted 4 years, 3 months ago 5 Responses

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  More Than MPG

  As a Honds Civic Hybrid owner I want to chime in and say that there are other benefits that need to be filtered in when purchasing your hybrid. I am a former SUV owner living at 6000 feet. One day, stuck in traffic behind a Hummer with a 'Keep Tahoe Blue' sticker, I decided to dump my guzzler and go green.

  I feel better. I get tax breaks ($2000 the first year). I pay lower registration fees. I pollute less, less greenhouse gasses, a greater proportion less than fuel reduction would indicate. Some day soon in California I will get to use the HOV lanes. I can park easier. People smile at me.

  Who cares about gas milage....it is worth it just for the positive vibe it gives your life.

  It is a beginning to getting where we need to go. On Get your (hybrid) motor runnin' posted 4 years, 4 months ago 19 Responses