Properties that are south of Monroe Avenue in Talmadge are not included within the TMAD district but are included in the El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement District (ECBBID). This includes all properties, both residential and commercial, from the 805 to 54th Street south of Meade/Monroe and north of Orange Avenue. MAD Engineer Reports can be found on the city’s website here. See this document for more information about the boundaries, revenue, and spending reports of the ECBBID. See page 17 of the PDF (exhibit A) for the official boundary map. You’ll note on your property tax bill a line item for this.
According to exhibit A (page 17 of the PDF), Talmadge South is within the side street zone 2 east section. Note on page 2 (page 5 of the PDF), that Talmadge South property owners contribute nearly half of the total MAD revenue ($63,904.01 for FY19). Yet, unlike the Talmadge or Kensington MADs, we as property owners and residents have no say in how our money is being used by our MAD and the improvement zones only cover the properties directly adjacent to El Cajon Boulevard.
The city controls the money, and the El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement Association (ECBBIA) is the oversight committee who decides how and where to spend our MAD money. (The El Cajon Boulevard MAD advisory group, referred to as the Design & Parking Committee, generally meets the second Wednesday of each month at 11 a.m. at 3727 El Cajon Blvd).
This advisory group is completely controlled by business owners along El Cajon Blvd – businesses on the far west side of the MAD. There are no residents on the advisory board, and there aren’t many east-side businesses or property owners involved either. From resident’s perspectives, it seems a conflict of interest for the owner of a business to have the power to make decisions about improvements and distribute funds to the area in which their business resides, while potentially neglecting the rest of the area. Fortunately the currently leadership of the ECBBIA is committed to improvements along the east end of the corridor and have been spearheading some great projects that have improved our neighborhood. See their web page here for projects that have used Assessment tax dollars.
But, we as residents and paying property owners still need to have a voice in how our money is being used. Please come to the committee meetings and have a say in not only how your tax dollars are being spent, but also the types of improvements that are being made to the area we live adjacent to.