As a taxpayer, I am fed up with the Newport Beach City Council who has postured as anti-tax conservatives and instead just passed the largest property tax increase in Newport Beach since Proposition 13.
The council, including Scott Peotter and Duffy Duffield, voted to impose Mello Roos property taxes of up to $4,500 per year on the new homes in Uptown Newport.
These new homeowners won’t get to vote on the taxes or the $8.8 million in thirty year bonds also approved by the council.
The new tax benefits the developer, who would otherwise pay for the public improvements himself. This demonstrates that the puppet masters can make Team Newport forget their promises when it serves their purposes.
The last city council extracted tens of millions in developer fees used for parks, art and infrastructure.
Team Newport raises taxes on homeowners by millions to pay for things their developer/donors have already agreed to do on their own dime.
They put the sham “Taxpayer Protection Act” on the ballot the same night to make it look like they were anti-taxes. They think the public are fools.
Even more frightening is the fact that if the incumbents are re-elected in 2018 and 2020, during 2021 and 2022 we will have a city council where none of them are accountable to the voters through a reelection campaign. That is why they have put off the General Plan update and their high rise vision for our city.
I am voting these hypocrites out in November and supporting Joy Brenner and Tim Stoaks. Peotter and Duffield have fooled me for the last time.
Lynn Swain
Newport Beach
