State Supreme Court Rules LA County Owes Cities Millions of Dollars

The state Supreme Court ruled Monday 7-0 that Los Angeles County must repay millions of tax dollars it withheld from 88 incorporated cities.

Plaintiffs from 47 cities were represented by attorney Michael Colantuono, who argued that property tax administrative fees charged by counties on education money is exempt under state law, and the state agreed with Colantuono.

Colantuono said the county owes cities between $10 million and $30 million, in addition to $10 million a year owed in the future.

Culver City Mayor Andy Weissman told Patch in Culver City’s case, “At this time, the over-charging applied by Los Angeles County through its erroneous calculations exceeds $500,000.”

However, the monies won’t be forthcoming any time soon as the county and the plaintiffs will now have to return to court to argue whether the refunds pertain only to the past year, or the past several years.

Weissman added, “Culver City was a part of the original coalition of cities that filed suit against Los Angeles County based on the dispute over the calculation of property tax administration fees.  We are pleased that the Supreme Court has upheld our position.  Now that the decision is final, we will be working together with the attorneys representing the coalition of cities to understand the details of how and when recovery of these funds will occur.”

Click on the PDF to the right of this article to read the State Supreme Court's ruling in its entirety.

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