Why Irvine has so much mello roos?

Why does the city of Irvine need so much taxes compared to other cities?  Mello roos is used to pay off the bonds the city sold to build infrastructure, sewer, schools, etc. right?  What are some direct results of Irvine's mello roos?  Better schools?  Fewer potholes?  Police presence?  Who controls this money?  Is it the guy in the Irvine newsletter, the city planner?  How is the system controlled/audited?  Do cities like Arcadia/San Marino/Los Gatos/Yorba Linda/San Rafael generally have mello roos as well? 

I've been paying mello roos since 2005 which is around $2700/yr or $13,500.  Over this period of time my house value has dropped maybe 3-5%.  Do I have mello roos to thank for this?  What about my neighbor across the street who does not have mello roos?

Does anyone ever question mello roos?  Taxation without representation?  Buy a new house, pay extra 0.5% on purchase price annually, and no questions asked?  They should at least tell me what they did with my money.  Or name a street, sewer after me..  Can mello roos be defeated by propositions?  If property tax can be tamed by Prop 13, they why can't they do the same for mello roos? 

A street is nice, but sewer?  I wouldn't want that.

I think you answered your own question.  Your mello roos paid for the infrastructure, and school etc so the city don't have to I guess.  So the city has the resources to spend on something else.

I would guess the older cities don't have mello roos.  As far as the property value, I am sure it will have some effect.  It's all relative though, the homes with no mello roos will ask for a higher price.

Mello Roos came into existence in the 1980s when developers wanted to pass on the cost of infrastructure on to the new home owners for master planned developments.  Prior to that time, the infrastructure costs were a cost the developer paid for and just slightly increased the price of the homes to cover it.  A good way to compare a home that has Mello Roos to one that doesn't is to add $50,000 for every $300/mo of Mello Roos to the home with Mello Roos.

fe9000 said:

A street is nice, but sewer?  I wouldn't want that.

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IHO Sewer. Hmm... that has a nice ring to it.

Mello Roos AKA the Prop 13 workaround. What gets me is when they have it in places they don't need it. At least WB is getting theirs reduced considering they didn't build the middle school (AKA Carmelecito).

irvinehomeowner said:

fe9000 said:

A street is nice, but sewer?  I wouldn't want that.

Click to expand...

IHO Sewer. Hmm... that has a nice ring to it.

Mello Roos AKA the Prop 13 workaround. What gets me is when they have it in places they don't need it. At least WB is getting theirs reduced considering they didn't build the middle school (AKA Carmelecito).

Click to expand...

When I saw your AKA for the middle school, I was like, really?  Is that why they name the homes that way.  Then I get it.  I got to stop trusting people so easily 

Anyway, you brought up something that I still don't know about.  I know about the Mello Roos buy down in WBE.  However, I don't know if that's the case for WB because WB doesn't have the R8 bond.