Editorial from May 10, 2007

Land use vs. land ownership

By Danielle Seckler

   The Big Bear Valley Parks and Recreation District recently stated the reason why the City of Big Bear Lake, DWP, MWD, CSD, and itself received pool ballots in the mail is that “assessments are based on land use not land ownership”. Let’s examine this.

   The people have always been told that residential property owners were to vote and pay, while the commercial property owners would not have to participate. The reason for this is that the consultant “assumes” that if a residential property owner is also a business property owner, they would be double taxed. This has led people to believe that it is the property ownership that determined who was sent a ballot. This seems simple, though there can be a case made that this ‘special benefit’ would actually be a ‘general benefit’ to both residential and business property owners. However it seems that this is not the way assessments are based on. So, let’s look at land use.

   A residential property uses the land to live on, while trying to work to pay for the privilege of living there. The City of Big Bear Lake, DWP, and CSD use the land to spend the money residents sent to them to provide services, such as trash, sewers, and water. The park district uses the land for people to recreate, while asking the users to pay fees for the use of land paid for by taxes. With so many different land uses, how does the park district’s consultant decide who gets to vote and them pay for this boondoggle?

   I can’t make heads or tails of this. Can you?

Back to Front Page