Larkspur reworks tax district for bulkhead project

Larkspur is hitting the reset button on a $22 million bulkhead repair bond for the Larkspur Marina neighborhood.

The City Council voted on Oct. 16 to dissolve a taxing district it formed last month and establish another one. The move is intended to distribute the financial burden more fairly among the residents.

The neighborhood includes 98 residential parcels that surround a lagoon. The lagoon bulkhead, built more than 50 years ago, is deteriorating.

The city formed the community facilities district to finance the costs of replacing the bulkhead. The district would allow the property owners to tax themselves to pay the bond debt over 30 to 35 years.

In the district’s initial iteration, the tax was apportioned based on the length of lagoon frontage of each parcel as determined by the county assessor map. The parcel boundaries extend beyond the bulkhead into the lagoon, resulting in a difference between the length of the parcel boundary and the length of the bulkhead frontage.

The city’s consultant and the property owners’ association sought to revise the tax so that it would be apportioned based on bulkhead length that fronts the lagoon rather than the length of the parcel boundary. The change requires the original district to be dissolved and a new one to be formed in its place.

“It came to light that the way that the taxing documents were written they are following the parcel lines,” said City Manager Dan Schwarz. “This is not something that can be fixed administratively.”

Mark Pressman, a consultant for the city, said the change was announced to the residents.

“We need to correct that,” he said. “I don’t think anyone is being misled by doing this process.”

The city will hold another hearing to confirm the dissolution of the first tax district and confirm the new one, said Sky Woodruff, the city attorney.

Two-thirds of voters in the district will have to approve the special tax for the project. The vote would be conducted during the election in March.

“If we pass something here, we can always go back and change it if we need to,” said Mayor Scot Candell.