The Dana Reserve inches closer to reality after the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors approved a property tax agreement with the Nipomo Community Services District (NCSD) on Oct. 22.
Following a back-and-forth negotiation between the NCSD and county, the two finally came to an agreement after negotiating over their conflicting property tax policies.
SLO County Third District Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg was in favor of breaking the county’s policy, claiming during a July meeting that the county needed the 288-acre housing development.
“I think that as good neighbors we really need to work together with the NCSD and try to help them address their needs,” she said. “I really appreciate staff for going back after and working really hard at finding an agreement on this, and while there could be some missing revenues, not extensive, I think that the overall benefit of this project [is] for the entire county.”
The county’s policy holds that funding for independent special districts should not result in a net fiscal loss to the county, directly conflicting with the NCSD annexation policy outlining that the amount of percentage of property tax revenue exchange in future years should remain consistent with historic property tax revenue sharing agreements.
If the two government agencies didn’t come to an agreement about how the potential property taxes generated by the 1,370 residential unit housing project would be divvied up, the Dana Reserve would be at a standstill.
Ortiz-Legg said that the project was too important for that. In an unprecedented decision, the Board of Supervisors decided to offer NCSD approximately 2.4 percent of the property tax while giving the rest to the county, with 2nd District Supervisor Bruce Gibson and 4th District Supervisor Jimmy Paulding dissenting.
This split would generate a loss to the county’s general fund of between $139,707 to $882,518 a year.
The NCSD’s board voted to agree to the offer during its Aug. 28 meeting, which more than 100 people attended. NCSD General Manager Ray Dienzo told directors at the time that the 2.4 percent would go to much-needed wastewater infrastructure improvements.
Now the Dana Reserve’s annexation into the NCSD will go before the SLO County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) on Nov. 14. The hearing will be held at the Board of Supervisors chambers in SLO at 9 a.m.
This article appears in Nov 7-17, 2024.