By Robert Haugh

In case you missed it, the 49ers won an assessment appeal case that cuts their tax bill in half.

That was “shocking and unexpected,”  County Assessor Larry Stone said.

But so was the response from the Santa Clara Unified School District’s Superintendent Stan Rose.  His statement is copied below.

Rose basically says it’s okay. No big deal. We’ll take it out of our reserves. At the very end of the statement, he says it’s “disappointing” like it’s an afterthought. Really. Some parents are pissed.

For his weak response, Rose gets the The Jabroni Award.

Let’s hope the other public agencies that lost tax dollars aren’t so weak.

Dear community,

On January 23, County Assessor Larry Stone announced the Assessment Appeals Board’s decision to rule in favor of the San Francisco 49ers on the appeal of the tax assessment of Levi’s Stadium. The Appeals Board’s decision effectively cuts the taxable assessed value in half by splitting the value of the property between the 49ers and the Stadium Authority.

This decision results in a nearly $31M refund of countywide tax revenue from the stadium. The district’s portion of the refund is just over a $13M. The ongoing impact of this reassessment will result in a loss of approximately $2.5M of revenue per year.

Please be reassured, we can cover this loss. We are not anticipating that this year’s refund and loss of ongoing annual revenue will lead to budget cuts. Our one-time revenues from this year and funds from our reserve for just these types of budget uncertainties will carry us through this year’s refund. Additionally, we are making adjustments to our revenue assumptions as we build future school year budgets.

This is still disappointing news for the district to receive. Ultimately, the impact is on our students who would most certainly have benefitted from that $13M and ongoing annual revenue.

Sincerely,

Stanley Rose III, Ed.D.

Superintendent