Check your mail carefully for your “Vote by Mail” ballot. To some receiving their ballots in the mail, the  ballot envelope looks like an advertisement.  

At this election, no postage is required to cast your ballot via the mail.

City / School Liaison Committee

Tuesday, September 17, 4 pm

City Hall Conference Room, 120 Vista Avenue

The meeting is open to the public.  It will not be recorded or broadcast. 

 Agenda

Come one and all to learn and celebrate Pickleball in Piedmont!

 Saturday, Sept. 7 at 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. is the Official Opening for the renovated Piedmont Middle School (PMS) courts.

The Saturday event will kick-off at 10 a.m., so Picklers can bask in the glory of six available courts at Piedmont Middle School.

The Piedmont Recreation Department (PRD) is graciously providing beverages and snacks.  There will be a raffle and be sure to take one of the new Piedmont Pickleball Decals. There are tables, benches and shade trees.

 Additionally:

Instruction: At 11 a.m. Marcia Nieshi, a sponsored 4.5 level professional Pickleball tournament player and a Level II Certified Professional Pickleball Instructor, will be giving lessons. Marcia teaches widely in California and Hawaii.

Food: While PRD is providing food, all are encouraged to bring whatever.  Anything from donut holes to fruit is welcome. No Moonshine.

Directions: PMS is located at 742 Magnolia Avenue, Piedmont. You can park on Magnolia Avenue or surrounding streets. There is construction on Saturdays so parking right in front can be problematic. The badminton/pickleball courts are down the hill behind the Middle School; take the steps down to the right of the gym. Alternately there is a parking lot off El Cerrito Avenue leading to Witter Field and you can walk up; this lot is likely full on weekends. Use Google Maps.

Water Fountains:  Right before the 2^nd set of steps is a water fountain/bottle station. There is a 2^nd water fountain below at court level.

Restrooms: There are restrooms going back up PE Hill behind the first court to the left by the Waste Bins. Participants will help newcomers to find restrooms.

The normal Piedmont Pickleball schedule:

Tuesday              10:00 to 12:30  Linda Playground tennis courts
Wednesday         12:30 to 3:00    Hampton Sports Field tennis courts 
Thursday            10:00 to 12:30  Linda Playground tennis courts
Friday                 12:30 to 3:00   Hampton Sports Field tennis courts  
Saturday            10:00 to 2:00   Piedmont Middle School (“PMS”) Badminton Courts
Sunday               1:00 to 5:00     Piedmont Middle School Badminton Courts

– If a ball enters your court or you hit into another court yell “ball on,” stop play and return the ball.
– Wear court shoes, bring a hat/cap, sunblock and water. Flip-flops, sandals and street shoes are unsafe.
– Only use paddles on the approved list and the City supplied Onix type balls. Loaner paddles are provided.
– Piedmont staff will set up/tear down nets and player help is encouraged.
– If no staff person is present then all players help set up and break down the nets.
– Linda and Hampton benches are for sitting; they are not storage shelves.
– Do not coach another player unless you were asked or your offer to coach is accepted.

The Piedmont School Board will consider new policies on Drugs, Tobacco, and Alcohol at their meeting on Wednesday, August 28, 2019 in Piedmont City Hall, 120 Vista Avenue.  The meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. and will be broadcast live from the Piedmont website under videos and also on Cable channel 27.

READ THE AGENDA AND DOWNLOAD STAFF REPORTS BY CLICKING BELOW:

https://agendaonline.net/public/Meeting.aspx?AgencyID=1241&MeetingID=73901&AgencyTypeID=1&IsArchived=False

Measure A = $2,763 Uniform per year tax for all parcels

Measure B = Adds an additional tax based on building Square Footage for up to $3,192 more per year. 

To view the actual proposed tax on your home or property go to the staff report and read the chart seen below.

The Piedmont School Board will act on June 26, 2019 to place on the November Ballot two new school parcel taxes. Measure A will be a uniform parcel cost of $2,763 per parcel.  Measure B is based on square footage of building space.  If both measures pass, the smallest square foot building homeowner would pay $2,763 per year, and the largest square foot of building would pay $6,675 per year.

The staff recommendation is for 2 Measures on the November 2019 Ballot.  Given the recent poll results and Piedmont’s current educational needs, District staff recommends that the Board of Education consider asking voters to support the renewal of its existing parcel tax to maintain current programs at the $2,763 flat rate (“Measure A”) and in a separate measure (“Measure B”) asking voters for an additional amount ($0.25 per building square foot) to ensure that Piedmont schools will be better able to attract and retain highly qualified teachers and educational support staff.

Renewing the existing parcel tax (“Measure A”) would secure $10.8 million in revenues. Measure A is a continuation, no tax increase measure. We [District Staff] would also recommend an 8-year “duration” of the tax to provide a stable ongoing source of revenue to the District and fulfill the description as a pure continuation of what is in place today.

To view what you would pay if Measure A and/or B pass, see below:

# of parcels	Square Feet of improved property	% of parcels	Measure A $2,763	Measure B @ 0.25 per sq/ft	A+B (total tax)
104	0/vacant	2.6%	$2,763	$0	$2,763
25	557-1,000	0.6%	$2,763	$139 – $250	$2,902 – $3,013
1098	1,001-2,000	27.9%	$2,763	$250 – $500	$3,013 – $3,263
1528	2,001-3,000	38.8%	$2,763	$500 – $750	$3,263 – $3,874
707	3,001-4,000	17.9%	$2,763	$750 – $1,000	$3,874 – $3,763
267	4,001-5,000	6.7%	$2,763	$1,000 – $1,250	$3,763 – $4,013
99	5,001-6,000	2.5%	$2,763	$1,250 – $1,500	$4,013 – $4,263
38	6,001-7,000	1.0%	$2,763	$1,500 – $1,750	$4,263 – $4,513
19	7,001-8,000	0.5%	$2,763	$1,750 – $2,000	$4,513 – $4,763
19	8,001-9,000	0.5%	$2,763	$2,000 – $2,250	$4,763 – $5,013
8	9,001-10,000	0.2%	$2,763	$2,250 – $2,500	$5,013 – $5,263
21	10,001-15,650	0.3%	$2,763	$2,500 – $3,912	$5,263 – $6,675
1	25,635 (apartment)	<0.1%	$2,763	$6,409	$9,172

VI_F_UpdatedBackgroundSchoolSupportTax_0 with chart

Additionally, we [District Staff] recommend that a second measure (“Measure B”) be placed on the ballot. [See above chart.] This second measure would be set at $0.25 per building square foot and would also have an 8-year duration. Passage of Measure B would result in an additional $2.6 million to the Piedmont schools. Importantly, the entire community would share the burden of an increased tax (although larger properties would pay more and smaller properties less – $139 per year for the smallest residential parcel). An added benefit is that if this tax were challenged from a legal standpoint, only the supplemental tax would be at legal risk.

If both measures pass, the smallest square foot homeowner would pay $2,763 per year, and the largest square foot building owner would pay $9,172 per year.

Together [Measure A and B], both measures would raise $13.4 million.

II. RECOMMENDATION: REVIEW AND ACTION After convening the second of two (2) public hearings—June 12, 2019 and June 26, 2019, District staff recommends that the Board adopt the two subsequent Board Resolutions (Measure A & B) that authorize both the renewal of a qualified special tax and a second qualified special tax for voter approval on November 5, 2019.

VI.F. Approve Resolution 19-2018-19 “Proposing a Qualified Special Tax and Establishing Specification of the Election Order Measure A”

At 8:40 p.m. the Board is requested to approve the attached Resolution 19-2018-19 “Proposing a Qualified Special Tax and Establishing Specifications of the Election Order Measure A”.

The Resolution calls for an election on November 5, 2019 to extend the authorization of the Board to levy the current School Support Tax as permitted in Measure A for eight years starting on July 1, 2020.  The new Measure “A” is a renewal of the current School Support Tax—a uniform flat tax on all parcels.  The new Measure “A” will continue to provide an exemption for churches, public utilities, and those eligible for Social Security Supplemental Income.  The new Measure “A” also continues to permit an inflation growth rate of up to two (2) percent per year.

Attachments:

VI_F_UpdatedBackgroundSchoolSupportTax_0

VI_F_UpdatedResolution19201819MeasureA_0

 At 9:00 p.m. ~

VI.G. Approve Resolution 20-2018-19 “Proposing a Qualified Special Tax and Establishing Specification of the Election Order Measure B” 

The Board is requested to approve the attached Resolution 20-2018-19 “Proposing a Qualified Special Tax and Establishing Specifications of the Election Order Measure B”.

The Resolution calls for an election on November 5, 2019 to authorize the Board to levy a new School Support Tax as permitted in Measure “B”  for eight years starting on July 1, 2020.  The new Measure “B” is a uniform tax applied at $0.25 per square foot of building improvements.  The new Measure “B” will continue to provide an exemption for churches, public utilities, and those eligible for Social Security Supplemental Income.  The new Measure “B” does not include an inflation growth rate.

VI_G_Resolution20201819MeasureBParcelTax_0

READ the above linked reports for further details.

The meeting will be held in Piedmont City Hall, broadcast on Cable Channel 27 and the Piedmont website under School Board. 

 

Non-resident students are sought for the upcoming Piedmont school year.

The Piedmont Unified School District has announced the application process which begins on June 24, 2019 for inter-district non-resident student transfers into the Piedmont Unified School District for the upcoming 2019-2020 academic year.

Los Angeles voters soundly defeated a proposal to support LA schools based on a per square footage of interior space of buildings.  The owner of a 2,000 square-foot-house would have paid $320 a year to support the schools.

Measure EE would have raised an estimated $500 million annually for 12 years by charging property owners 16 cents per square foot of indoor space, excluding parking areas. … Los Angeles Times

To read the article below, click the headline:

Los Angeles voters decisively reject parcel tax that would have raised $500 million annually for schools

Piedmont School Board
c/o Randy Booker, Superintendent

re: June 12, 2019 Agenda item: School Taxes

Dear President Smith and Board,

I.      I take exception to Mr. Booker’s comments May 22 at 3:48 that a single square foot building tax would not allow the District to have a separate flat tax on unimproved parcels.  I again cite two sources:
– SB2954 (2018) Legislation allows a separate unimproved parcel rate.
– Alameda School District’s 2011 Measure A square foot of building tax with a separate flat rate for unimproved parcels and the identical 2016 Measure B1 tax; both these taxes withstood legal challenges.  Significantly, Judge Petrou in his 2018 stipulated judgement required a flat rate tax on unimproved parcels to bring Measure B1 in alignment with Measure A (source: Sean McPhetridge, AUSD Superintendent,  4/4/2018 Press Release).

II.     While identifying all parcels by their Assessor’s Parcel Number (APN) is welcome, having multi-parcel owners combine parcels to a single APN to avoid paying multiple taxes is a problematic solution. Combining parcels at the County level eliminates some buildable lots. Should the owners wish to recapture these parcels, the process is not simple and is done at the City level.  Applications, surveys and new legal descriptions on new recorded documents would be required. This does not respect Piedmont taxpayers who have been so generous in their School support. Finally, eliminating buildable size parcels works against Piedmont’s requirement of meeting State mandates of providing more housing.
A multi-parcel exemption handled by the District is the proper and simple solution.

III.    I again propose a single $1.15 per square foot building tax which gives the District a 15% increase in tax revenue.  This acknowledges that Piedmonters have been very generous in their District support and a 25% in total increase is excessive.

Respectfully,
Rick Schiller, Piedmont Resident

Editors Note: Opinions expressed are those of the author.