Mislabeled property tax assessments no cause for alarm

The property tax bills due this month include special assessments connected with the Conejo Recreation and Park District. Although the amount of the assessments is correct, there is a labeling error in the title of the special assessments.

The assessments on the property tax bill labeled “Dos Vientos Ranch 921” are incorrectly labeled and should correctly read “Districtwide Assessment 62-1.” The assessments on the property tax bill labeled “Conejo Rec. Dist. #92-1” are correctly labeled.

The assessments on the property tax bill labeled “Dos Vientos Ranch 94-1” are correctly labeled. Tom Hare, administrator of parks and planning, said, “The bottom line of the labeling problem is that it appears that properties districtwide are paying for Dos Vientos Ranch. That is not case; they are properly assessed for districtwide improvements and services. We apologize for any confusion and inconvenience this may have caused. Fortunately, the error is simply a labeling error and not an error in the assessment amounts.”

Over the years, property owners have approved three separate

special assessments to off-set the local property tax dollars shifted from the local recreation and park district to the state. These assessments have proven crucial to maintaining the quantity and quality of local parks and open space in the Conejo Valley.

There is a “Districtwide Assessment” of $28.60 per single family equivalent unit on virtually all properties within the boundaries of the Conejo Recreation and Park District.

In addition, the more recently developed communities of Dos Vientos Ranch and Rancho Conejo were each approved with a Landscape Maintenance District to fund the parks and open space in their communities. The annual assessment for those communities is $169.36 and $44.71 per benefit unit respectively. Because Dos Vientos Ranch and Rancho Conejo each have their own benefit assessment district, properties in these areas pay one-half of the Districtwide Assessment.

Multifamily housing is assessed based on a percentage of the single family benefit unit. Commercial and industrial properties are assessed based on a density factor.