Aliso Viejo Residents to Step Up Road War

ALISO VIEJO —  Residents of this unincorporated area plan to escalate their campaign against the use of locally collected Mello-Roos taxes by county officials and the Orange County Transportation Corridor Agencies for tollway construction, a residents group said Monday.

Deborah L. Anderson, president of the Aliso Viejo Citizens Action League, said she believes her community has contributed $60 million toward construction of the San Joaquin tollway, an amount she says “is grossly disproportionate, about 20 times what other communities have paid.”

“It’s more than unreasonable,” Anderson said. “It’s intolerable to us.”

Up until now, the league has waged its battle against what it sees as unfair taxation in public statements and letters sent to newspapers denouncing what they contend is the illegal siphoning of Mello-Roos funds for non-local projects.

But the group is now planning to file a class-action lawsuit seeking a court order that the money be refunded because it was collected in violation of the Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982.

Lisa Telles, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Corridor Agencies, said the agency would have no comment until after the lawsuit is filed.

In typical Mello-Roos taxing districts, an assessment is levied on newly built homes to pay for community improvements such as roads, schools and other needed facilities. Orange County initially created a special Mello-Roos district in Aliso Viejo to levy taxes to finance projects such as a fire station, library and roadway improvements.

But a significant amount of tax money has been used to fund construction of the toll road, which will cut through about nine other communities from San Juan Capistrano to Newport Beach along a 17-mile route.

“This is Orange County, and the powers that be do whatever they want to do in Orange County without regard to the law or morality,” said Jim Toledano, the league’s attorney. “The toll road is a statewide project, and Mello-Roos is only for local projects. [But] they just helped themselves to the money.”

Toledano said he bases his opinion on a recent state Supreme Court ruling that such a toll road was a state and not a local project.

Jim Barnes, another league member, said that when residents bought their homes they were told that Mello-Roos money was supposed to be used for local facilities and local public roads--”not a toll road,” he said.

In addition, Barnes said that paying the Mello-Roos taxes on a 1,700-square-foot home costs about $19,000 over the life of a 30-year mortgage.

“Yet we would still have to pay a toll fee without a discount, although we are the ones who are paying the most for it,” Barnes said. “And that’s unfair.”

Toledano is expected to speak at a community forum on the legal action at 7 tonight at Glenwood Recreational Center, 25422 Cedarbrook.