[1:38] Hey everybody.
[1:40] >> Hey.
[1:41] >> Hi.
[1:42] I'm off I'm off uh I'm off video for now
[1:45] until we have to vote, I guess, but
[1:48] >> Oh yeah, me too.
[1:50] >> I'm sitting in a car in Carlsbad,
[1:52] California, so
[1:55] » Do you say nice?
[1:56] >> Yes, sir.
[2:00] » Yeah, we'd like to welcome everybody to
[2:02] this special city council meeting.
[2:05] As I promised online, it should be
[2:06] pretty short.
[2:08] We're going to start with an invocation
[2:10] from council member Lund and a pledge of
[2:11] allegiance from council member Jones.
[2:17] » Oh dear kind and gracious heavenly
[2:19] father, we're so thankful for
[2:21] the opportunity that we have to be here
[2:23] this evening to
[2:25] discuss the tax rate and to
[2:27] be able to accept
[2:29] the current rate and not have to raise
[2:31] taxes on our residents. Please help us
[2:34] to
[2:35] ask good questions and make good
[2:37] decisions as we represent our community
[2:39] and to do what will be best for them.
[2:41] We're thankful
[2:42] once again for this opportunity. Please
[2:44] bless and watch over our city this
[2:45] summer. Keep it safe from fire and from
[2:48] all other kinds of catastrophes and
[2:50] we're so grateful for the
[2:52] again for where we live, this beautiful
[2:53] place. We say these things in the name
[2:55] of Jesus Christ. Amen.
[2:56] >> Amen.
[2:58] >> Please join me in the pledge of
[3:00] allegiance.
[3:01] >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
[3:05] United States of America
[3:07] and to the republic for which it stands,
[3:10] one nation under God, indivisible, with
[3:14] liberty and justice for all.
[3:19] » And thank you both.
[3:21] >> [clears throat]
[3:22] >> Okay, we're going to open the public
[3:25] comment. Um
[3:27] All the comments are limited to 2
[3:28] minutes or less. Only [clears throat]
[3:30] in-person comments will be included as
[3:32] part of the official record.
[3:34] Um it looks like I have no public online
[3:37] and I don't have any here in the the
[3:39] meeting, so we will close the public
[3:41] comment section.
[3:42] Uh we'll move to the business side. This
[3:44] will be the discussion of the resolution
[3:46] 2026-40
[3:48] setting the certified tax rate for
[3:50] Woodland Hills city, 2027 fiscal year.
[3:54] So, to give you guys kind of a little
[3:56] bit of understanding there,
[3:58] uh that would be a tax rate of .002976,
[4:04] which would be revenue equaling
[4:06] 1,042,000
[4:09] and and $11. Um and so we will reflect that. That is
[4:15] a little bit actually um higher than we
[4:19] had in the budget, I believe.
[4:21] Um and so we will reflect that and then
[4:23] allocate appropriately, um which gives
[4:25] us the opportunity to to get a few of
[4:27] those other things that you guys wanted
[4:29] to have done done. Um we will have that
[4:31] presented at the next council meeting
[4:34] and I'll get you guys a full sheet
[4:36] breaking down exactly where each of
[4:38] those funds are, so we won't just hand
[4:40] you a budget. I will hand you the same
[4:42] type of spreadsheet that we used when we
[4:45] when I was in Hawaii going over the
[4:47] budget. So, you'll see a little bit more
[4:50] detail there.
[4:52] Um any questions on uh that certified
[4:55] tax rate or the procedure here?
[4:57] >> I was just going to make the comment
[4:58] that we we made the budget based on last
[5:01] year's tax rate, and so that's why
[5:03] um when it ended up being more, we're
[5:05] going to have a little extra.
[5:07] That's my only comment.
[5:08] >> Yeah, and we didn't raise the rate than
[5:10] the county gave us.
[5:12] >> Yeah, what I what I read was we actually
[5:15] assumed a higher percentage. It came in
[5:19] at a lower percentage, but the actual
[5:22] expected revenue from that lower
[5:24] percentage is a higher number than what
[5:27] we had anticipated. So, we actually got
[5:30] a lower tax percentage than in the past
[5:33] and a higher tax revenue from that lower
[5:36] tax percentage.
[5:37] Is that correct?
[5:39] >> Yeah.
[5:41] That's my understanding.
[5:43] Uh values the you know, they have a
[5:45] rate, but they also do base it on the
[5:47] values. So, if the values are still
[5:49] going up,
[5:51] that's why there would be more revenue
[5:53] even though the rate is a little bit
[5:54] lower
[5:55] when they do the calculation.
[5:58] And then there's probably more homes
[6:00] than there were last year.
[6:02] A couple?
[6:02] >> Yeah, a few.
[6:04] >> How many?
[6:04] >> 18. 18 new homes last year.
[6:07] >> 18 new homes than last year. So, there's that.
[6:12] >> So, so just for my understanding and
[6:13] maybe somebody out there who's got the
[6:15] same question,
[6:16] we we were 0.0030903
[6:20] last year, 0.002976
[6:23] this year. So, again, fractionally less
[6:26] of a percent,
[6:28] the county just says, "Hey, we decide
[6:31] how much we're giving you.
[6:34] Here you go." And we don't have any say
[6:37] in that, right? Cuz independent of the
[6:39] truth in taxation,
[6:41] we we determine not to
[6:44] do a tax increase, right? Our property
[6:47] tax increase. But this is seems
[6:50] independent of that. Is that correct?
[6:53] >> It kind of. The county does do the
[6:55] calculation like Janet explained. Um and
[6:59] so with that calculation, they then kind
[7:01] of figure out, "Okay, what is current
[7:03] home value?" You're looking kind of for
[7:06] this much money per the rates. And so
[7:09] they kind of, in my opinion,
[7:12] work the numbers on this side for that
[7:14] rate. And then if we had budgeted or
[7:17] needed more than this number, that's
[7:20] when we would then say, "No, we actually
[7:22] need a higher number. We're going to go
[7:23] for a truth in taxation cuz we're
[7:25] looking for this revenue amount to
[7:27] accomplish what we need to."
[7:29] And in this case, this revenue amount
[7:32] satisfies our needs.
[7:33] >> So, they take the current value, 45%
[7:36] discount, times the tax rate. And then
[7:39] that's what each home is, you know, tax
[7:41] rate is. but then they take the whole
[7:43] So, they'll calculate that for all the
[7:45] homes in Woodland Hills,
[7:47] but then they
[7:48] Well, yeah, but then they'll divide it
[7:50] out.
[7:51] There's different like certain
[7:52] percentage goes to the school district,
[7:54] a certain percentage goes, you know, to
[7:56] all the things.
[7:58] And then, um whatever percentage we get,
[8:00] that's that's what we get.
[8:02] >> And and they were just kind of at their
[8:04] mercy, sorry.
[8:05] >> Well, so and I I I think we're not at
[8:08] their mercy at this point. We could
[8:10] decide that this isn't what we wanted to
[8:13] do and we would have to have another
[8:14] truth and taxation and so on and so
[8:16] forth. So, we could make a change to
[8:19] this. Um but what we're saying is that
[8:22] originally we decided to go with this
[8:24] the the standard tax rate. We weren't
[8:26] going to raise it any higher. I Well,
[8:28] originally we were going to raise it and
[8:30] then we decided against that. We did
[8:32] some
[8:33] you know, some some constructive
[8:34] financing.
[8:35] Changed that around to where we didn't
[8:37] need to raise it. And we said we'll
[8:39] stick with the with the county's number.
[8:41] Well, the county finally comes back and
[8:43] says, "Well, here's the the actual
[8:45] number, not what we guessed it was going
[8:47] to be." Um and here's your actual
[8:50] number. We could make a change. Um
[8:52] but we kind of have decided that we're,
[8:55] you know,
[8:56] it it's actually giving us more money
[8:58] than than we had intended and we had
[9:01] expected. So, uh
[9:04] to change it now is possible, but not uh
[9:08] >> So, actually, Brian, that's what makes
[9:10] this so complicated right now. We've
[9:13] already made the decision and because of
[9:16] how late
[9:18] the county was in getting us this
[9:20] number,
[9:21] our ability to declare a truth in
[9:23] taxation or an increase is actually
[9:25] passed.
[9:26] So, it was Well, that's so terrible.
[9:29] >> I I agree with that, but I think we
[9:30] would we could uh
[9:33] There There would be a way to finagle
[9:34] it, but I don't know why we would even
[9:36] want to. Um just because we're actually
[9:38] getting more more money than than what
[9:41] we had expected and a lower tax rate.
[9:45] So, it all turns out good in the end.
[9:47] >> It's too late. It's past the deadline.
[9:49] So, we actually can't.
[9:51] >> deadlines are again when because they
[9:53] came out late, I think we have grounds
[9:55] to fight being able to change it if we
[9:57] were wanting to, but there's no reason
[9:59] to even approach that.
[10:01] >> Yeah, Carrie.
[10:03] >> Yes. Um so, it's all based on state
[10:05] statute. And so so, what they do is they assess the values of the homes. And
[10:12] by law, we had to have our budget
[10:15] numbers in whether they were high or
[10:17] low, it's our prerogative to to do the
[10:20] budget for the city. Um we kind of
[10:23] usually base it on last year's because
[10:25] they try to do a tax rate that's
[10:29] um negative uh a revenue neutral. So,
[10:32] that it's similar to the last year. So,
[10:34] it gives us something to go off, but
[10:36] it's not set in stone. So, we have to
[10:39] turn in that that um
[10:41] that a temporary budget or preliminary
[10:44] budget um a few weeks ago. And then um
[10:48] whether it's going to be high or low um
[10:51] is dependent on this tax rate that the
[10:54] county does give us based on the
[10:56] assessed values. Now, then after that
[10:58] assessment comes in, you don't get to
[11:01] change your your budget at all. Um if
[11:04] it's if your budget is higher than what
[11:06] they
[11:07] um
[11:08] gave you the tax rate for, the county
[11:10] sends out a a notice to all residents
[11:13] that says they're over and we have to
[11:16] schedule a truth in taxation. Now, we
[11:18] have done it in the past where we've had
[11:20] to just up it a few percent to make it
[11:22] work. And there's times when we have
[11:25] then taken things out. So, by the time
[11:28] our truth in taxation hearings is in in
[11:31] know, is held in August then we have
[11:33] already cut it and it and then we can
[11:35] say we're not going to raise any taxes.
[11:38] So, they always have you put the
[11:39] preliminary budget in first, then they
[11:42] give you the rate, and then you have to
[11:44] go with process from there. So, so we
[11:47] did we can't change it higher, but we
[11:49] can always at truth in taxation take
[11:52] things out so that we can make it um
[11:57] that that neutral
[11:59] um space, but it's it's kind of a
[12:01] complicated thing because we don't know
[12:03] what it's going to be until the end of
[12:05] June, which of course July 1st is our
[12:08] fiscal year starting point. And so it's
[12:10] kind of a tight crunch for us, but it is
[12:13] what it is and we are work we'll work
[12:15] with it. And luckily for us, we've made
[12:17] our budget so it came in relatively like
[12:20] last year, but we did get some new homes
[12:22] and some home values increased. So, our
[12:25] tax rate um is sufficient for our needs
[12:28] and we may have some to do some of those
[12:30] other projects.
[12:33] >> Beautiful summary. Okay.
[12:35] That helps, Steve?
[12:36] >> Yeah, thank you.
[12:36] >> Perfect.
[12:37] Uh any other questions or comments on
[12:39] that?
[12:42] Okay, then I will we will uh
[12:45] close that and head into the city
[12:48] council meeting.
[12:49] >> I did have separate we just did it.
[12:51] >> Oh, we're just all combined today. This
[12:52] is great. Then I will take and accept a
[12:55] motion to accept uh resolution 2026-40,
[13:00] which is setting the certified tax rate
[13:02] for Woodland Hills City 2027 fiscal
[13:04] year.
[13:04] >> I'll make a motion.
[13:06] >> I have a motion from uh Council Member
[13:08] Lund.
[13:09] >> I'll second.
[13:10] >> I've got a second from Council Member
[13:12] Johns. Sorry, Roden the the delay.
[13:15] >> The delay was worth
[13:16] >> All right, whatever. I get it.
[13:18] >> Jody, we'll be getting signatures later.
[13:21] >> [laughter]
[13:21] >> Exactly. Council Member Malkovich.
[13:24] >> Yes.
[13:25] >> Council Member Hutchings.
[13:26] >> Yes.
[13:28] >> Council member Rowden?
[13:29] >> Yes.
[13:30] >> Council member Johns?
[13:31] >> Yes.
[13:32] >> Council member Lund?
[13:33] >> Yes.
[13:34] >> Okay, that motion that resolution
[13:36] passes.
[13:37] Um I don't have any need for a closed
[13:40] session. We can push that till next
[13:42] time. Um if there's anything that uh
[13:45] additionally comes up. Um so unless you
[13:48] guys have a need to go into closed
[13:50] session, I'll entertain that.
[13:53] >> No.
[13:54] >> Perfect. Okay, then I will accept a
[13:56] motion to adjourn.
[13:57] >> I'll make a motion.
[13:59] >> Okay, then we are adjourned.
[14:01] Thank you guys. Travel safe.
[14:03] >> Have a good evening.