El Toro Airport Foes Planning Tax Offensive

SANTA ANA —  First there was talk of economic boycott. Then some in South County even spoke of secession. Now, foes of a proposed commercial airport at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station want to swamp the Orange County assessor’s office with requests to lower their property taxes.

Irvine accountant Ed Gogin and other airport opponents said that besieging the county with demands to reassess their property values is the best way to dramatize their belief that the airport plan is already having a devastating financial effect on them.

“The battle is financial and political,” said Gogin, adding that the requests should cite the airport as the reason for deflating home values. “Everything will be appealed. Everything is going to be fought. The county needs to know that we’re not going to put up with this.”

Repeated calls to Orange County Assessor Bradley L. Jacobs were not returned Tuesday. Jacobs’ office, which determines assessed values upon which property taxes are based, has had difficulty in recent years handling the backlog of assessment appeals.

Appeals not handled in a timely manner are automatically granted, which at one point resulted in the loss of more than $1 million in revenue to the county. A recent audit found that Jacobs’ office is understaffed.

Clerk of the Board of Supervisors Darlene Bloom said an avalanche of assessment appeals would likely require the supervisors to provide additional resources and staff. “It doesn’t matter whether we can or can’t handle it, we’ll have to go to the board to get the resources to handle it,” she said.

Orange County Supervisor Thomas W. Wilson, who doesn’t favor an airport, said a flood of assessment requests and appeals could cause serious problems for the assessor’s office--and the South County cities that rely on a share of property taxes collected by the county.

“It’s a tactic,” said Wilson. “There could be some validity to it, but I don’t know how much.”

He said he will get an idea what impact an airport could have on home values when he tries to sell his Laguna Niguel home in a few months and buy another area dwelling with his wife-to-be.

While the reassessment request and formal appeal service is provided without charge, homeowners must provide evidence to support their contention that their assessed values are too high, Bloom said.

The process can take up to two years or more, and in some cases must be repeated year after year unless the assessor agrees that the reduced value should remain, Bloom said.

Some South County leaders are reluctant to embrace the latest protest, saying it might be too soon to tell how a proposed airport would affect housing values. Others said South County’s cities could end up being economically hurt if the county’s property tax revenue is curtailed.

But all said the effort reflects the depth of anger and frustration South County residents feel over the supervisors’ 4-1 vote last month to pursue building a commercial airport after the military retires the 4,700-acre base in mid-1999.

“People are looking at ways to get their anger out. They have little faith in the process at this point,” said Laguna Niguel Councilman Mark Goodman, an airport opponent.

Taxpayers for Responsible Planning, a South County-based group leading the fight against an airport, will discuss whether to support a reassessment campaign and a boycott of pro-airport businesses at a meeting set for Monday at 6:30 p.m. at Laguna Hills High School.

“These are all things that need to be looked at,” said Bill Kogerman, group co-chairman.

An airport’s effects on noise, traffic, public safety and real estate values are among the key concerns for South County residents, who say those concerns are being downplayed by the county and airport supporters.

The issue of economic impact is a thorny one, according to officials.

It’s difficult to prove that sluggish home sales or lowered property values can be traced to a proposed airport at El Toro, or whether the market may be responding to perceptions rather than fact, they said.

But longtime real estate agent Elaine Stark, who specializes in the Portola Hills and surrounding areas, said El Toro is a topic in every real estate transaction she handles. For example, a couple considering a purchase in the Saddleback Valley area pulled out recently because of concerns about an airport, she recounted.

“They talked to friends in the area who told them ‘beware El Toro,’ ” Stark said. “They chose to buy out of the area and the reason they gave was the airport.”

David Cotton, a Trabuco Canyon resident working with Gogin, said the reassessment campaign is an example of how the county will suffer if an airport is built at El Toro.

“The county should be held responsible for using the land in that manner,” Cotton said. “This is all about trying to drive home the reality of the situation.”

The battle against an El Toro airport will move into the legal arena by week’s end, the deadline by which lawsuits against the project must be filed.

Several South County cities have declared their intent to challenge the project and the validity of an environmental impact report that portrays an airport at El Toro as the best reuse for the base.

* ENTERING THE WAR: Laguna Beach will join in lawsuit to block El Toro airport. B1

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Value Judgment

Homeowners can ask for a property value reassessment any time, but the official appeal period begins July 2 and ends Sept. 15. Requests are reviewed in the order received, and the process can take two years or longer. Homeowners are responsible for providing evidence their property values have fallen. Usually, they submit figures showing the sale prices of comparable dwellings in their area.

To ask the assessor to review your home value, write:

Orange County Assessor

P. O. Box 149

Santa Ana, CA 92702

To file an assessment appeal from July 2-Sept. 15:

Pick up a form at any county library or the Clerk of the Board Office at 10 Civic Center Plaza in Santa Ana.

Source: Orange County assessor’s office