Point Reyes Light- September 17, 1998
County of Marin wants money back from Lagunitas and Bolinas-Stinson School District
The county of Marin has thrown the budgets of Lagunitas and Bolinas-Stinson school districts into disarray by asking the districts to repay some of the parcel-tax revenue they have received from the Civic Center over the last six years.
Lagunitas School District has been asked to reimburse the county $25,647, and Bolinas-Stinson School District has been asked to return $45,085. That money, according to the auditor's office, was funneled to the districts but never collected from several parcel owners.
The money was paid to the school districts under the Teeter program, in which taxes are forwarded by the county prior to their collection.
The county insists it can't collect anything from those property owners, either by placing a lien on the property or by putting the lots up for auction.
"These parcels are slivers that are worth about a dollar," said Roy Given, a tax manager at the county auditor's office. "The problem here is the property has no value. If the properties could be sold there would not be a problem."
He continued, "What we're saying is the money is no longer collectible, and we want the money back."
Both district superintendents - Lagunitas' Larry Enos and Bolinas-Stinson's Bob Balzan - met last week with Given and Marin Auditor-Controller Richard Arrow, and both complained of the extreme difficulty of paying back the amounts in a single year.
Including the owed money, Lagunitas School District finds itself more than $60,000 short of meeting its reserves requirement for school year 1997-1998. The shortfall also results in part from auditor's office reneging on a promise to advance the district $20,000, explained business manager Lucy Hicks.
Bolinas-Stinson School District has been caught in a pattern of deficit spending that has steadily eroded its reserves over the last couple of years.
At last week's meeting, both Enos and Balzan asked the county to recheck their figures and come up with a repayment plan that would not punish the school districts, said Marin assistant superintendent of schools Ruth Vedavelli, who sat in on the conference.
Vedavelli said another conference is planned for as early as next week, and that all the parties want a fair solution.