ASSESSMENT AREAS URGED FOR ALL OF T.O.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

A citizens task force has hammered out a proposal calling for citywide landscape and lighting assessment districts that would draw money from all property owners in Thousand Oaks.

The proposal, which would have to be approved by voters, aims to ease an inequitable system that has worsened since 1978, when California voters approved Proposition 13. The initiative prohibited the creation of additional maintenance districts to pay for citywide benefits with property tax assessments, officials said.

"It isn't fair at all. A lot of people are paying nothing," said Otto Stoll, the task force chairman. "I think the council has to make some policy decisions about this, and we gave them what we felt was the best compromise."

The task force met 10 times over four months to complete the draft, which is scheduled for a public hearing at Tuesday's City Council meeting. The council meets in the Forum Theatre of the Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd., beginning at 6 p.m.

Task force members said the proposal is expected to generate much debate because equalizing landscape and lighting costs beyond housing and commercial developments means some property owners would pay less and some would pay more annually.

There are two types of landscapes, those found along main roads like Thousand Oaks Boulevard, and more local ones, such as those found next to housing and commercial developments.

Mayor Andy Fox said the council appointed the 18-member task force because the issue is important to the city's budget picture.

The council has used money from the city's general fund to compensate for citywide landscape and lighting costs not paid by property owners outside the assessment districts established before 1978.

"I think people should pay their fair share," Fox said. "It's not equitable that some people pay nothing, because lighting and landscaping is something everyone benefits from."

The maintenance districts that existed prior to the passage of Proposition 13 passage include only a few parts of the city, such as the Westlake Village area. Neighborhoods including Newbury Park and central Thousand Oaks were not included, said Public Works Director Don Nelson.

Some 70 percent of the 50,000 parcels in the city are not assessed for landscape maintenance and improvement costs. About 23 percent of the parcels are not assessed for lighting costs, according to the task force proposal.

The proposal calls for annual assessments based on a so-called Equivalent Dwelling Unit of $28 that would be multiplied for each property based on acreage or intensity of development. The assessment also takes into account how much the city has had to pay to maintain and improve landscaping and lighting in those areas in the past.

Stoll said the major categories of property would face the following annual assessments:

For each acre of general commercial development, a property owner would pay $168.

For each acre of industrial development, a property owner would pay $112.

Each occupied apartment or condominium would be assessed $20.

Each occupied single-family home would be charged $28.

While task force members generally agreed on the formula for equalizing landscape and lighting costs citywide, Stoll said members disagreed over how much of the cost, if any, would continue to come from the city's general fund.

Stoll said the disagreement centered on whether general fund monies should be spent on lighting and landscaping or on police, libraries and other municipal services.