City Manager Lyman Cozad is assuming that there will be a 25% increase in assessed valuation which should make budgeting easier for 1976-77, but will not result in a lower tax rate.
For the fourth year Arcadia property tax rate has been set at $.94 per $100.00 assessed valuation. This is the lowest it has been since 1914 when it was $.60 The highest rate was $1.98 in 1945.
Assessed valuation notices were sent July 12 to property owners throughout Los Angeles County. Arcadians were hit with an average increase of 42%. Figures for other San Gabriel Valley communities given.
Due to the increased property tax assessments throughout the State, the $1750 exemption will begin to disappear. This will hit lower income home owners hardest.
The Arcadia Tax Reform Committee will present signed petitions to the City Council re requested repeal of 3 ordinances levying assessments on street sweeping and sewer service, and an increase in the utility users' tax from 5% to 7%.
Mayor Floretta Lauber and other City Council members will go before the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to ask them to cut the County tax rate.
City Council has renewed an examination of the admission tax Santa Anita pays compared to other race tracks. The track provided 34.1% of the city's total annual revenues in the fiscal year 1980-81. Traffic control costs in Arcadia are higher than in other cities with race tracks.
The Arcadia Tax Reform Committee has officially been formed and will petition the City Council to rescind the new sewer and street-sweeping levies and the increase of the utility tax from 5% to 7%.