Where do my property taxes go? Here’s how 4 SLO County cities use funding
Do you pay property taxes in San Luis Obispo? What about Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach or Pismo Beach?
During the 2024-25 fiscal year, these four incorporated cities spent a combined total of more than $162.8 million within their prospective General Funds, according to city financial records.
Property tax revenues fund parts of the General Fund budgets for these cities.
Each city spends its tax revenue on different departments and projects, spanning from patrol services and emergency response to environmental safety and public works.
Find out how your city is spending its property tax revenue:
How do property taxes work?
Homeowners in SLO County pay property taxes at the county and city level.
County property taxes are paid by all homeowners in SLO County, while some charges are dependent on what area you live in.
The California State Board of Equalization designates official tax rate areas, districts within the county that have specific property taxes.
Some taxes only affect one tax rate area, while others can impact multiple sections of the county.
This is because city specific property taxes are voter-approved local bonds that require a direct vote by the citizens in that area.
What are countywide property taxes?
SLO County has multiple countywide property taxes.
Proposition 13, passed by California voters in 1978, “limits the tax on property to 1% of its taxable value, plus the rate necessary to pay off voter-approved bonds and indebtedness,” according to the Office of San Luis Obispo County Assessor Tom J. Bordonaro, Jr.
This established a base rate for property taxes in California.
Prop 13 prohibits both state and local governments from charging any new taxes that are based on your property value.
If you see a charge for the state water bond on your property taxes, this is from the yearly water allocation from the State Water Project.
The State Water Project was approved by California voters in 1960. Voters had to then vote for their local water agency to participate in the project.
In 1963, the county water district entered into an agreement with the California Department of Water Resources for an annual state water allocation. This added the state water bond tax rate to property taxes in SLO County.
Property tax rates are a sum of the rates of bonds, leases and projects.
Which local bonds are voters paying for?
Property tax rates can include rates from voter-approved local bonds, including:
- State Water Project
- City bonds
- Unified/high school bond lease
- Improvement district or elementary school bonds
- Community colleges
- Special district bonds
Not all incorporated cities within the county charge all the sections.
City property taxes, also called voter-approved local bonds, can only be added to statements if a two-thirds majority of registered voters are in favor within the local jurisdiction, SLO County said.
How does Pismo Beach spend property tax revenue?
For the 2024-25 fiscal year, Pismo Beach’s General Fund received more than $7.7 million in property tax revenue, according to the city’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.
Property taxes made up about 21% of the General Fund’s total revenue, the equivalent of $37.2 million.
The city spent $27.1 million on departments including public safety, highways and streets and community services.
Most expenditures came from public safety and general government expenses.
Out of the more than $11.9 million the city spent on public safety, almost $11.4 million — 95% — went to the Pismo Beach Police Department and Pismo Beach Fire Department. Weed abatement and lifeguards made up the other 5%.
Public safety spending supported projects such as the police Parking Division Annex construction and the construction of a Public Safety Facility for the police and fire departments.
About 55% of general government expenditures — $7.7 million — went toward facilities maintenance, finance and other nondepartmental spending.
This included salaries and benefits for the city’s finance department, and insurance, professional services and equipment rental costs that couldn’t be credited to one specific department.
What were Grover Beach’s General Fund expenditures?
The city of Grover beach brought in $8.3 million in property tax revenue, which was all funneled to the General Fund.
That’s according to Grover Beach’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the 2024-25 fiscal year
General Fund revenue totaled $21.2 million, with property taxes contributing 44%.
The city spent more than $18.8 million across different divisions within Grover Beach.
General government, public safety and public works expenses accounted for 92% of the total General Fund expenditures.
The city spent $7.1 million on public safety expenditures, which all came from the Grover Beach Police Department.
The City Manager’s Office contributed more than $2.5 million to the general government expenditures.
The office is comprised of Human Resources, City Clerk and Community Services and Administrative Services including the finance and information technology departments.
Where does Arroyo Grande property tax money go?
Arroyo Grande’s General Fund received $9.2 million in property tax revenue in the 2024-25 fiscal year, according to the city’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.
The General Fund spent $24.7 million in expenditures and had a total revenue of $25.4 million, with more than $21.3 million coming from taxes and assessments.
General government spending amounted to more than $7.6 million in expenditures with $1.7 million of that going towards the Grover Beach City Council, manager, attorney and clerk.
About $1.3 million in general fund spending went to the information technology division, while $3.8 million paid for non-departmental expenditures, which are expenses that cannot be dedicated to a specific department. This includes property and general liability insurance premiums and transfers to the Street Fund.
More than 43% of General Fund expenditures stemmed from public safety.
Public safety administration — maintaining and overseeing the Arroyo Grande Police Department— cost $5.5 million, and patrol services expenses were $4 million, accounting for 89% of total public safety expenditures.
Community development and public works contributed about $4.5 million to General Fund expenditures.
How is SLO spending its property tax revenue?
In the 2024-25 fiscal year, the city of San Luis Obispo received $24.5 million in property tax revenue.
Of that $17.2 million of that came from general property tax revenue while almost $7.3 million came from a separate property tax for vehicle registrations, according to the city’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.
The majority of property tax revenue collected went to the city’s General Fund.
Property taxes made up about 20% of the General Fund’s revenue, which was more than $126.9 million in total. The fund had more than $92.2 million in expenditures in the same fiscal year.
Public safety expenditures accounted for 47% of General Fund expenses while general government spending equaled 19% and community development costs contributed 14%.
Public safety expenditures came from the San Luis Obispo Police Department, the San Luis Obispo City Fire Department and environmental safety.
The police department spent more than $13.6 million on patrol services, and the fire department spent almost $15.2 million on emergency response efforts.
General government expenditures totaled $17.5 million, with 70% coming from department administration costs including the city, public works and human resources.
More than $5.8 million was spent on human resources administration alone.
Community development expenditures stemmed from construction regulations such as building and safety and Capital Improvement Program project engineering.
