Homeowner Assessment Fee Approved for Schools : Education: Placentia-Yorba Linda board’s 3-2 decision will cost most homes $17 a year. A West County schools authority will take up a similar matter tonight in Huntington Beach.

Amid hostile jeers and threats of a recall, trustees of the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District narrowly approved a $17-a-year maintenance assessment fee on most homeowners late Tuesday night.

The 3-2 decision, reached at 11:20 p.m. after a tumultuous meeting attended by 350 residents, was a prelude to what could be an even tougher battle tonight, when four school districts will hold a joint meeting in Huntington Beach to decide whether a $50 fee should be tacked on to property tax bills to pay for school repairs and new construction.

The West Orange County Schools Financing Authority, an umbrella group of trustees from the Huntington Beach Union High, Huntington Beach City, Ocean View and Westminster school districts, will meet in public session to decide whether to buck strong grass-roots protests from property owners and a well-organized campaign by two powerful local realtors groups to approve the extra levy.

School district officials and anti-tax groups said Wednesday that the financing authority’s decision could have implications throughout the county and state, where other school districts are deciding whether they should pursue assessment fees.

Under the state Lighting and Landscape Act of 1972, public agencies can form maintenance assessment districts--without voter approval--to charge fees for the upkeep and improvement of publicly used recreational facilities, such as school fields and tennis courts.

A maintenance fee has been approved in the Orange Unified District but was rejected in Buena Park after a vehement public outcry. The La Habra City School District delayed its decision on a fee until October.

Trustees of the Fullerton School District on Wednesday night rejected a proposal to charge single-family homeowners $36 a year and owners of multiple-family dwellings $72 a year. Board members voted unanimously against the assessment after opposition from hundreds of residents.

In Placentia, most of the residents who crowded into the Esperanza High School theater were strongly opposed to the assessment district, saying that they already were hit hard by new state sales taxes and other fees.

The board’s vote will make it possible to place the assessment on property owners’ 1991-92 property tax bills, issued in December, school officials said. Single-family homeowners will be assessed $17 a year, and owners of condos, townhouses and mobile homes will pay $12.87 annually. Businesses under half an acre will be assessed $42.50 per parcel, and companies from a half-acre up to an acre will be charged $85 per parcel. Businesses an acre or larger will be assessed $85 per acre.

Many residents called the fees a way of getting around Proposition 13, which requires a two-thirds majority when voters are asked to raise taxes. But officials of the district, which has trimmed $9 million from its 1991-92 budget, said the fee is necessary to stem the flow of red ink.

A small number of parents voiced support for the fee, which they said will be a minimal amount to pay to reduce the impact of the district’s budget cuts.

“I feel that children are being squeezed too hard,” said Dr. Craig Olson, who has six children in schools in the Placentia-Yorba Linda district. “I would challenge anyone who is against the assessment district to find another way how children can be helped in a caring manner.”

But most of the crowd that packed the school’s theater was outraged.

“I wouldn’t care if it was 25 cents a month,” said resident Barbara Freeman. “A tax is a tax. I don’t care what you call it.”

Similar sentiments were expressed Wednesday by a Huntington Beach citizens group, the West County Taxpayers Committee, and the Huntington Beach/Fountain Valley Board of Realtors, which has been plastering placards and notices all over town denouncing the plan to be considered tonight.

James M. Righeimer, president of the Huntington Beach-Fountain Valley Board of Realtors, argued that the proposal is a misuse of the 1972 state law.

“We’re not saying that (schools) need the money or don’t need the money,” he said. “We just object to the way they’re going about it. . . . There will be legal challenge if this is passed, I can tell you that right now.” He added that the California Assn. of Realtors has pledged its financial and legal support to help fight the property fee.

The groups also have the support of state Sen. John R. Lewis (R-Orange), who has drafted legislation that would require the fees to be approved by voters.

“I believe these school districts are violating the spirit of Proposition 13 by utilizing these assessment fees,” Lewis said. “They are ducking the vote of the people. That’s wrong.”

Mark Porter, chairman of the taxpayers committee, said his group has surveyed nearly all of the 35 schools in the four districts and found little evidence to justify the replacement of equipment and maintenance costs outlined in the report.

“The report paints school sites as being in pretty bad shape,” said Porter, who ran unsuccessfully for the Huntington Beach City Council last year. “We went to the school sites, and they’re not in as bad a shape as the report would lead people to believe.”

Marshall Krupp, author of the engineer’s report, questioned the expertise of the citizens group. He said some maintenance problems are not readily visible to those who are not familiar with school inspections.

“If these repairs are not done, the schools face a liability problem if somebody is hurt and sues for damages,” Krupp said.

Times correspondents Ted Johnson and John Penner contributed to this report