Belvedere's city council may pull out of California's Mills Act, which gives property-tax breaks to owners of historic homes who use the savings for restoration. Eleven properties currently benefit. The council says the program costs too much staff time and lacks enforcement to ensure owners actually do the preservation work.
The city of Belvedere in Marin County just made a huge move as to how it treats property taxes on historic homes. Belvedere City Council recently expressed a desire to end local participation in the state's Mills Act, which exempts certain historic homes from property taxes if those savings are used for restoring and maintaining historic buildings. Apparently, participation is requiring too much time and attention from the city council's limited staff, and it's wasting taxpayer dollars. And there's no way to really ensure that the participants who have the Mills Act exemption are actually using the savings for their intended purpose. Personally, I think preserving historic homes is a great goal, and we should provide whatever resources we can to homeowners owners to do that. There are currently 11 Mills Act properties with the exemption in Belvedere, and if this resolution does pass, I hope those homes are still able to be maintained and don't fall by the wayside. Follow me for more Bay Area real estate.
