As if property owners in the Eastern Sierra Unified School District werent peeved enough, here comes news that their tax mono_courthouse_10-08bills to support school bonds will likely go up.

The school board had informed the public that the cost of the bonds would amount to no more than $60 per $100,000 of assessed value. The voters approved the measure in 2004. Then property values began to drop. Mono County has to actually make interest payments on the bonds and so will raise the cost to property owners if thats what it takes.

In fact, the bond payment did go up briefly a couple of years ago and then back down. Land owners said School Superintendent Don Clark sent out a letter to point out that the cost had gone down and to sort of lay the blame on the County Finance Department.

Finance Director Brian Muir will make things clear with a letter to the Board of Supervisors today. Muir wrote that the County Auditor is charged with calculating the property tax assessment amount required to meet the annual debt service requirements for each bond issue. Muir said when the ESUSD bonds were issued, they assumed an annual growth in property values of nearly 3%. That didnt happen.

Muir wants property owners to know that It is highly likely that the required assessment will exceed $60 per $100,000 in property value.

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