By Eliza Ridgeway

Kerr

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 last week to endorse the restoration of $4.6 million in tax revenues to four cities, one of them Los Altos Hills. The restoration measure now needs the approval of the California Legislature to go into effect. If approved, the measure could bring as much as a $400,000 increase in property-tax revenue next year.

Until Tuesday, Los Altos Hills, Saratoga, Cupertino and Monte Sereno all received approximately 4 percent of the property tax collected within their communities, while typical cities receive 7 percent. The majority of property-

tax dollars fund public education, while the county, fire district and other regional services such as the open space district also receive a cut of the funds.

The four towns were known as “low-tax cities,” communities with historically low tax rates, Mayor Breene Kerr said. “The agreement began about 25 years ago, and the reasons for it are now gone.”

The cities have lobbied the board of supervisors for years to change this classification. But money returned to the cities would mean less to fill the county’s coffer. The county operates with a deficit of more than $110 million, a figure expected to increase this year.

Some behind-the-scenes political negotiation helped bring the revenue restoration to fruition for Los Altos Hills. Mayor Breene Kerr holds a voting seat on the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), as does a representative from Cupertino. The VTA’s current push for a 5-cent sales tax increase hinges on support - and votes - from its member cities. “The county is hoping to have its sales tax considered without a lot of opposition from the cities,” Kerr said. The proposed increase is scheduled for a vote in the June 6 election.

The board of supervisors required another quid pro quo in its approval of the revenue restoration for the Hills, Kerr said. “The cities have agreed to annex their unincorporated pockets. All the mayors present agreed to personally prioritize annexation

issues.”

Annexation would help the county recoup some of the funding lost in this revenue restoration. Providing services to small unincorporated areas can be expensive, Kerr said.

While the council has voiced unanimous support of annexation, in February the planning commission rejected, with a 3-2 vote, a bid to prezone a portion of the unincorporated San Antonio Hills area southeast of Los Altos Hills.

Commissioners balked at incorporating parcels of land smaller than the town’s 1-acre minimum. When incorporated, smaller parcels would gain legal nonconforming status.

The town has promised to move forward on the annexation both to the county supervisors and in its 2003 state-mandated Housing Element.

The element, part of the town’s General Plan, assures the town will meet the state’s minimum affordable-housing requirements. Pre-zoning of the San Antonio Hills area is scheduled for Thursday’s council meeting.