All 11 Tesoro Del Valle neighborhoods are located within a “Community Facilities District” or “CFD”. There are Mello-Roos bonds (aka flat fee, special-lien taxes) attached to all 1,077 Tesoro homes. Each home has 2 bonds; one for the Saugus Elementary School District and one for the William S. Hart High School District. These bonds differ in all 11 neighborhoods (making up 22 separate taxes). See exact breakdown below for each neighborhood.
What is Mello-Roos? (Or perhaps a better question is WHO is Mello & Roos?)
Mello-Roos is a special tax assessment used in California to help pay for infrastructure and public services in newer communities. It was created under the Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982, named after Senator Henry Mello and Assemblyman Mike Roos.
Why does it exist?
After California's Proposition 13 limited property tax increases in 1978, local governments needed another way to fund things such as:
· Schools
· Parks
· Roads
· Fire stations
· Sewer and water systems
· Community amenities
Mello-Roos allows these costs to be funded by the homeowners who directly benefit from the improvements.
How does it affect homeowners?
If a property is located within a Community Facilities District (CFD), like Tesoro, the homeowner pays a Mello-Roos tax in addition to regular property taxes.
Unlike normal property taxes, it is not based on the home's assessed value. It is often based on factors such as lot size, square footage, number of bedrooms, or a formula established for the district.
How long does it last?
Many Mello-Roos assessments are used to repay bonds issued to build the community's infrastructure. Once those bonds are paid off, the tax may expire, often after 20 to 40 years, depending on the district.
For example, in the Huntington Collection, the Saugus bond matures (ends/expires) in 2037-2038 and the Hart bond matures (ends/expires) in 2040-2041.
The Tesoro bonds have been refinanced twice since 2003; once in 2013 and again in 2023. The refinance didn’t necessarily extend or increase the amounts (by law the amounts can not increase more than 2% per year) but they do increase every year.
