Letter: EDC supervisors don’t care about citizens
To the community,
At the Aug. 16, El Dorado County Board of Supervisors meeting, Brian Veerkamp made a motion to extend a property-tax subsidy to incentivize seniors to move into El Dorado County. He justified this subsidy, known as Proposition 90, by stating that he must also represent Realtors, not just citizens.
It was apparent from the discussion that the greatest benefactors from the decision will be production home builders such as Lennar Homes, the county Board of Realtors, and seniors moving from the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Three supervisors felt that because these seniors have more discretionary funds to throw around, it justifies the subsidy to entice them to move to El Dorado County.
My opinion is that this will continue to keep the market inflated and continue to make it hard for young families to stay here. As one Realtor pointed out last month, he witnessed a Prop. 90 recipient create and win a price war on a house because of their advantage using the Prop. 90 subsidy. Supervisor Veerkamp attempted to lay the housing inequality on the feet of those that have fought to retain the rural character of El Dorado County. It was mentioned that if they could just put in more high-density housing apartments along the corridor, young families might have more of a chance. Economics tell us that when you give someone a discount on paying their fair share for services, that discount has to be made up by somebody. It was made pretty clear at the meeting that three of our supervisors feel very strongly about who they will be favoring, this does nothing for existing residents and businesses.
Supervisor (Sue) Novasel stated that she disagreed that there was not a benefit since these new seniors will be spending money and adding to the sales tax, even though everyone admitted that there is no data to prove that statement. Maybe living in Tahoe, Supervisor Novasel does not realize that the homes being sold (mostly high priced by Lennar Homes) are located a hop and a skip from a massive amount of retail in Folsom. Well, I guess Folsom should be happy, but it’s a sad day when our supervisors favor out of town affluent seniors over our struggling young families.
Sue Taylor, Camino
It is a shame that words like “subsidy” were used by the Author. It appears to me that she does not understand what Prop 90 was all about. Probably thinks the same about Prop 13. Prop 90 is not a subsidy in the classic sense. It simply allows a property transfer while maintaining the original tax basis. Like Prop 13, its purpose, still very valid, is to prevent seniors, particularly those on fixed income, from being forced out of their homes by constantly rising taxes. Each County in California gets to vote on whether or not to be part of the Prop 90 group. If I wanted to sell and move to another Prop 90 County (few California Counties allow it), I could and maintain an affordable tax basis. In the same way, a Prop passed, years ago, to help Veterans in certain circumstances. Perhaps the author has not thought her comments through fully….what will happen to those forced out by large tax increases? Will they then go on County welfare programs? Prop 90 assists those who own homes, who need to move, usually from expensive homes to lesser homes, usually for old age reasons.
Hi Bob, good info.