CLEARLAKE — A request for support to amend Proposition 13 raised concerns from the Clearlake City Council Thursday.
The San Francisco-based group “Evolve, A Community Organization,” made the request.
“There are two red flags here,” Councilman Joey Luiz said. “The lack of backing up what they say ? and when the League (of California Cities) doesn”t take a position on something, you know that is a good sign; because they have high-powered attorneys and counsel looking at it.”
“It was difficult to determine from the materials submitted by Evolve exactly what the city is being asked to support other than support of amendments to Prop 13,” City Manager Joan Phillipe said.
Proposition 13, which passed in 1978, limits property tax increases by allowing a maximum annual increase of 2-percent.
The group has organized a campaign that aims to close loopholes in the proposition so that commercial property pays its share, according to Phillipe. The League of California Cities (LCC) has not taken a position on the request and is advising cities to wait until “the actual language for the proposed changes is submitted.”
“They (LCC) have been having some difficulty also in obtaining what specifically the organization is asking for support on. They have not been able to establish a dialogue with this organization,” Phillipe said.
“The aim is to increase property tax revenues by closing what is perceived as a loophole in certain commercial properties to provide additional funds to educational institutions,” Phillipe added.
Unanimous consensus was reached by the Clearlake City Council to wait for clear intentions from Evolve. No action was taken by the board.
According to www.evolve-ca.org, Clearlake City Councilwoman and District 2 Supervisor Candidate Joyce Overton, as well as District 3 Supervisors Candidates Herb Gura, Mark Currier and John Brosnan, are listed as supporting all 15 of the organization policy statements.
Incumbent District 2 Supervisor Jeff Smith is listed as supporting 93-percent of the policy statements. Smith agreed with 14 of the policy statements, voting uncertainty as to whether he supports California combating global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions with cap-and-trade market programs.
“It is my understanding that they think it is unfair that big companies are paying an unfair amount,” Smith said. “To me, it is a case-by-case basis.”
“They do say in their literature that they don”t want to hurt small business and they don”t want to hurt business with residential property,” Smith added.
The policy statements also include increasing state funding for K-12 public education; restoring funding for higher education to pre-recession levels; funding high-quality preschools with government money; raising taxes for wealthy people and corporations; supporting affirmative action programs, as long as there are no rigid quotas; providing a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants; increasing funds for anti-bullying programs in schools; overturning the Citizens United decision; increasing minimum wage to $10.10; supporting single-payer health insurance options; supporting abortion as a woman”s constitutional right; supporting same-sex marriage; generating state revenue with a oil and gas extraction fee and closing commercial property loopholes in Proposition 13 by reassessing non-residential commercial properties regularly.
Calls made to Evolve and the LCC were not returned as of press time.
J. W. Burch, IV is a staff reporter for Lake County Publishing. Reach him at 900-2022 or at jburch@record-bee.com.
