Trustees Support Assessment District

The Garden Grove Unified School District’s Board of Education has cast its ballots in favor of the city’s proposed park maintenance district, a move expected to push the passage of the controversial assessments.

As the largest property owner in the city and a government agency currently exempt from park maintenance assessments, the school board is voting to impose an estimated $40,000 yearly tax on its facilities.

The school district and the city of Garden Grove are the two largest property owners of the city’s 33,000 land owners, and together control a large chunk of the votes.

City officials voted last month to cast ballots of the city, redevelopment agency and housing authority in favor of the new assessment district. The mail-in ballot measure asks property owners if they will support the continuation of $700,000 in park maintenance fees assessed by the city’s lighting and landscaping district.

The passage of Proposition 218 last year required that lighting and landscaping fees be assessed separately. If approved, the new district would simply move assessments from the existing district to the new park maintenance district.

City Manager George Tindall said he is pleased the school board is supporting the city. “Playgrounds are important for kids and the schools own a lot of the land that we use as parks. If we can’t maintain them, the district will get it back and have to maintain it anyway,” he said.

A public hearing on the proposed district is scheduled for the City Council meeting at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the Community Meeting Center, 11300 Stanford Ave.