Opinion ID: 2631172
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Exception for Prior Indebtedness

Text: In its opening brief, VGV argued that this judgment constitutes an indebtedness approved by the voters prior to July 1, 1978, and is thus not subject to the 1 percent limit set out in article XIII A because it comes within the exception stated in section 1, subdivision (b)(1) of that article. Here, the local voters themselves approved the creation of the District in 1952 knowing that state law (i.e., Harb. & Nav.Code, § 6361) mandated that the County of Ventura would levy a special property tax each year up to the maximum tax rate specified in Harbors and Navigation Code [section] 6362 to cover the District's outstanding liabilities. An amicus curiae brief filed by Twenty Eight California Cities in support of the District correctly observed that this argument was a stretch of logic [that] would gut Proposition 13, and VGV has abandoned it. In any event, VGVs argument was meritless because the District's debt occurred no earlier than 1979 when the lease with Ocean was executed, and so it did not arise prior to 1978 when Proposition 13 was adopted.