County tax bill, if upheld, will add to cost of new, privately financed courthouse
The construction of a new $2.3 billion courthouse in Long Beach, Calif., has been criticized from the outset due to its cost and the way the project was financed. It involved a private-public funding partnership, the first time such an approach was used to construct a courthouse in the state.
Now it appears that the tax bill for the facility could be higher than anticipated. The Los Angeles County tax assessor filed a lawsuit (PDF) earlier this month in Los Angeles Superior Court against the California State Board of Equalization, reports Courthouse News.
It seeks a declaratory judgment that a special state law providing tax relief to Long Beach Judicial Partners, the company that helped fund construction of the courthouse and technically owns it for now, is unconstitutional. If the courthouse is taxed as a non-public building, the annual bill would likely be $4 million to $5 million, the article says.
