Los Cerritos Community News has been told by the Santa Barbara Independent Newspaper that Caruso also flexed his political muscle in Santa Barbara to get a tax reduction.
His proposed hotel, The Miramar, recently came to an agreement with the Santa Barbara County Assessor’s Office for a reduction in property value.
While Caruso and his political strategist Matt Middlebrook, said the value of the property was $5.5 million, the county had appraised the property at $54.9 million. The two sides stipulated to a value of $30.7 million, which means Caruso will have saved a few hundred thousand dollars this year on taxes. Caruso and company also negotiated to keep the Transient Occupancy Tax, which is 8%.
The stipulation doesn’t establish a new base value on the tax roll, so should Caruso seek a reduction next year, he will have to come back to the county with the request.
Caruso is a “smooth operator” who seems almost always to find a way to get what he want from local governments. Perhaps a road map of his political contributions and those of his “known associates” might be quite revealing.
I have no animosity toward him in particular or the wealthy in general. I just want the wealthy and influential to be held to the same standard as the rest of us.