This story originally appeared in Monday’s Daily Post. If you don’t want to miss out on local news stories, get in the habit of picking up the Post in the mornings.
BY ELAINE GOODMAN
Daily Post Correspondent
Santa Clara County property owners are being asked to vote this spring on adding a fee to their property tax bill to fund a special district that controls mosquitoes and other disease-causing pests.
Ballots were mailed to property owners in mid-March. They are due back with a “yes” or “no” vote by May 19
The funds would go to the Santa Clara County Mosquito and Vector Control District, which works to reduce mosquito populations through pesticides and other measures. The district monitors the incidence of diseases spread by pests – such as West Nile virus, Lyme disease, and rabies – and helps residents with things like rodents or snakes getting into the house.
Although the district is part of the county government, it doesn’t receive money from the county general fund or from Measure A, which voters passed in November. Instead, it’s funded through fees that are included on property tax bills. Currently, a fee that started in 1996 and another that began in 2005 add $14.90 to the property tax bill for a single-family home.
The new fee would more than double that amount by adding $15.75 a year for a single-family home. The Board of Supervisors could decide to increase the new fee in the future based on inflation.
This fiscal year, the two existing fees combined brought in $8.1 million, or almost all of the $8.3 million in district revenue for the year. But because costs have been increasing faster than revenue, the district is expecting a $2.77 million budget shortfall.
Payroll costs, which are the largest expense for the 41-employee district, are up 32% since 2020. According to Transparent California, district manager Nayer Zahiri made $196,226 in 2024, not counting benefits, an increase from $177,483 in 2020.
The district said it has taken steps to try to rein in spending, such as renegotiating with suppliers, not filling vacant positions, and using technology including drones.
The district also wants to add four employees in response to the recent detection in the county of a mosquito called Aedes aegypti, which can spread diseases such as Zika or dengue fever. The new employees would work on monitoring and controlling the mosquito.
The Board of Supervisors approved sending out ballots for the new mosquito-district fee in January.
County Executive James Williams told supervisors that the fee, also known as a benefit assessment, is different from a tax under state law. The benefit assessment pays for something that benefits the property owners who are paying it. In this case, Williams said, the benefit is controlling pests that can harm people’s property and affect their use of the property.
With a tax, in contrast, “there isn’t necessarily a direct relationship between the people who pay and the people who benefit,” Williams said.
California Proposition 218 requires local agencies to mail ballots to property owners to get their approval for property-related fees, rather than going to the polls. Property owners don’t have to be registered to vote to submit a ballot.
Votes will be weighted by the property owner’s proposed assessment amount. A majority vote in favor is needed for the new fee to pass. The Board of Supervisors would then vote on it, with the new fee potentially appearing on the 2026-27 tax roll.
Santa Clara County noted that its current mosquito-district fee of $14.90 for a single-family home is less than that in San Mateo, Contra Costa and Alameda counties, even though Santa Clara County is larger than the others. The fees in those counties are $18.75, $19.51 and $20.83 a year, respectively.
With the addition of the new fee of $15.75 for a single family home, Santa Clara County’s combined mosquito-district fee would be $30.65, likely becoming the highest among the four counties.
For other property types, the new Santa Clara County fee would be $9.45 per year for a condo; $6.77 per unit for a duplex to fourplex; or $4.41 per unit for housing with five or more units. A commercial or industrial property would be charged $7.88 per one-fifth acre.
A public hearing on the proposed mosquito-district fee is scheduled for May 19.
The ballots may be mailed in, but must be received by the May 19 deadline. Or they can be dropped off at the registrar of voters office in San Jose or during the May 19 hearing, before public input concludes.
And who counts the ballots?
It’s not a tax…it’s a benefit assessment.