Sunset Beach taxes are topic of Tuesday meeting

The county approved a resolution Tuesday transferring about $550,000 in taxes to Huntington Beach in preparation of annexation, officials said.

The county passed a property tax exchange with Huntington Beach that gives the city the majority of the 1% property tax levied on the small beach community and 100% of a fire and library tax.

The city will take possession of the funds, which are estimated to be $10,000 more than Huntington Beach originally thought, when the annexation is officially recorded, said Jay Wong, county administrative manager and chief executive of legislative affairs.

The resolution gives Huntington almost 56% of the community's property tax with the county keeping the rest, netting the city an estimated $116,000 a year.

The city will also take 100% of the funds collected for the Structural Fire Fund, a tax cities pay for use the Orange County Fire Authority's services, which is expected to bring in about $378,000 annually.

Huntington will also collect the money from the community's Library Fund in full, estimated at $56,000.

Huntington Beach in August voted to move forward with the annexation of the 134-acre community, a little more than a year after it was put under Huntington's sphere of influence by the Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO.

The final decision by LAFCO to grant the annexation is expected to come in early January.

The county is expected to consider a pre-annexation agreement at its Nov. 23 meeting, which will then be forwarded to LAFCO, Wong said. The agreement is expected to be the county's last step toward annexation, he said.

—Britney Barnes