HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-16-2016 Item 4, SchmidtTo:
Subject:
Maier, John Paul
RE: Agenda Item 4 -- Mills Act
From: Richard Schmidt [
Sent: Monday, August 15, 2016 9:22 AM
To: E-mail Council Website <emailcouncil slocit .or >
Subject: Agenda Item 4 -- Mills Act
Item 4: 690 Islay Mills Act tax relief
Aug. 15, 2016
Dear Council Members,
I object to the Mills Act tax gift to the owner of 690 Islay Street.
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iTEM NO.: 14
RECEIVED
AUG 15 2016
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The Mills Act as administered in this city is one of the most politically odious, disgusting, unfair,
unethical operations this city engages in. It is city -administered class warfare by which the city
subsidizes the real estate taxes of rich people who can well afford to pay their taxes and don't need
help from the rest of us to stay in, or maintain, their homes.
It is time to end this program.
Why should someone who months ago was able to pay $1.2 million for this house now get a $9,600
per year tax reduction? Why should that home, estimated by Zillow to be worth even more than it sold
for, be taxed as if it is a $291,000 condo or mobile home?
This is just plain unfair. There's absolutely no justification for this private gift of public funds. What
exactly is the civic benefit?
While the city loses little of the proposed $9,600 per year tax reduction, the school district takes it in
the shorts. Do you have so little decency as to do this to the school district? They, after all, have no
control over your Mills Act designations, but they bear the brunt of the impacts.
All of us have to maintain our homes, so why should the wealthiest few among us get public funds to
do that maintenance while the many struggle to keep fresh paint on their homes while paying ever-
increasing city utility fees?
As a preservation architect, I had originally thought there were merits to the Mills Act. I swallowed the
cool aid about its public benefits. Then I saw how our city actually uses it — to subsidize mainly
wealthy home owners and landlords with minimal to zero actual public benefit resulting from that
subsidy.
When two properties in my neighborhood came under the Mills Act, I had my eyes opened to the full
obscenity of this program:
1. 375 Chorro. This was a non -historic old house, purchased by wealthy out of towners who hired a
"history consultant" to get their home on the master list of historic properties, then applied for a Mills
Act tax exemption, then tore down the listed house and built a brand new luxury home, and got to
keep the Mills Act benefits! This is a new house — there's nothing historic about it! The owners paid
about $800,000 for the house they tore down, and spent an estimated million plus dollars on its
replacement. People who can afford this sort of extravagance don't need tax relief! And there's no
justification for beggaring the school district to provide the unmerited tax relief for this entirely bogus
piece of "history."
2. 148 Broad. This master list house, on the list because it's photogenic on the outside but rather
dreadful inside, was always immaculately maintained till its current ownership, when it was allowed to
go to seed, the yard was subdivided off and the owner moved into a new million dollar house in the
former back yard. Despite the neglect of the exterior of 148 Broad and the failure to repair damage
done to the grounds as part of the backyard construction project (like digging up part of the driveway
which has never been repaired), this property was granted Mills Act tax relief on condition that what
one would have to describe as totally routine homeowner maintenance is carried out. The house is
now a student rental, and it's maintained like one. Exterior maintenance seems to be the minimum
required to keep the neighborhood wellness cops out of the place, certainly not what one would
expect from receiving a huge tax reduction granted for the purpose of property maintenance.
Please terminate forthwith this unfair, ridiculous and counter-productive program. For the Islay house,
refund the application fee, and turn down this tax relief ripoff. Cut out the city -sponsored economic
class warfare the Mills Act has come to represent.
Sincerely,
Richard Schmidt