Solvang Municipal Improvement District v. Board of Supervisors

Mandate. The issue is whether article XIII A of the California Constitution, which limits ad valorem taxes on real property to 1 percent of the value of the property, includes within its limitation nonvoted special assessments to pay for local improvements which directly benefit the assessed real property.

In 1968 petitioner, Solvang Municipal Improvement District (District), acting pursuant to general and special statutory authority to create public parking districts, to borrow money and issue bonds to finance their cost, and to levy nonvoted special assessments against the benefited real property to service and redeem the bonds (Parking District Law of 1951, Sts. & Hy. Code, § 35100 et seq.), created a parking district and issued $610,000 of bonds to acquire three lots in Solvang for public parking purposes. The money to service and redeem the bonds was to be raised by special assessments against the benefited real property within the district, property which would be made more valuable by the increased availability of public parking. Under the statutory scheme followed by the District, voter approval to incur this indebtedness was unnecessary. Special assessments to…