District officials discussed plans to pursue a renewal of the parcel tax, used to fund programs and services in the district, at the May 13 board meeting The current parcel tax, passed in November 2020, was set at $836 per parcel, a flat fee per property, for six years, with a 2% increase each year according to PAUSD’s BoardDocs. Voters approved that tax with a 77.4% approval and district officials projected the tax would raise $16 million.

According to Team CivX’s Charles Heath, an independent consultant for the district, the parcel tax requires 66.7% of voters to approve and may be used by the district for any purpose.

“Some of the laws that are unique are that the state law requires that parcel taxes be uniformly applied for all parcels,” Heath said. “You can’t have one set (of taxes) for residential parcels and (another set for) commercial parcels. It’s one-size fits all.”

While the parcel tax rates require uniformity, Heath said PAUSD has given exemptions to the tax.

“(There are exemptions) for either senior citizens or low-income homeowners and homeowners with disabilities to avoid becoming a burden on those with fixed or limited incomes,” Heath said.

With the measure in mind, Board President Shana Segal said that some board members were unsure about their role when supporting the measure.

“For four out of five of us, this would be our first time going through the parcel tax,” Segal said.

Board Vice President Shounak Dharap is the only member who was on the board when the last parcel tax was approved s. Dharap said since board members are not employees of the district, their role will be to advocate for the parcel tax with more flexibility than district employees.

Dharap said, “In 2020, all the board members took it upon themselves to advocate (for the parcel tax) and be a part of a committee just like they were running a re-election campaign.”