Just 20 minutes from the happiest place on earth sits Anaheim Hills, CA. Homes here boast a median listing price well over $1 million, and there are plans in the works for nearly 500 luxury apartments nestled near Deer Canyon in the hills.
It’s an affluent, idyllic neighborhood—and just this past week, homeowners voted to approve a property tax increase that will have them paying anywhere between $395 and $2,500 more each year.
At a time when governors like Florida’s Ron DeSantis are working to eliminate property taxes altogether, it may seem strange to hear about homeowners volunteering to pay more. But as one resident put it, “the seriousness of the situation” demanded it.
Anaheim Hills homeowners approve a tax that acts like an insurance policy
After a vote on Aug. 4, Anaheim Hills secured long-term funding to operate a critical system of groundwater pumps that prevent landslides—by agreeing to permanently increase property taxes.
While nearby Disneyland sits along Interstate Highway 5, Anaheim Hills is named for its natural topography; the community is built on hilly terrain made up of ridges, valleys, and steep slopes.
Many homes and streets are perched along hillsides, with elevation varying significantly throughout the neighborhood, which lies at the base and along the ridges of the Santa Ana Mountains.
Because of this, the area is at significant risk for disasters like wildfires and landslides. In fact, Anaheim Hills was the site of the 1993 Santiago landslide, which damaged a dozen homes and prompted the installation of 37 dewatering wells. These pumps, which remove over 10 million gallons of groundwater annually, are crucial to stabilizing the hillside—but they cost $340,000 a year to operate, and existing funding was set to run out early next year.
So the neighborhood began its fight to secure new funding to keep the wells running—and it was a fight. As recently as May, a permanent tax measure was still being narrowly voted down by homeowners.
So, what changed? Perhaps perspective.
‘It’s like paying for insurance’
It took the Santiago Geologic Hazard Abatement District quite some time to convince the community that a permanent property tax assessment was necessary to manage the pumps.
According to District Chair and homeowner James Guziak, who spoke to the Orange County Register, most current residents weren’t living in the area back in 1993 and didn’t initially grasp the urgency.
“It’s like paying for insurance,” he said. “This is our insurance premium to keep the landslide from occurring.”
Given the increasing number of climate-related disasters in California, that protection may prove more vital than ever.
Shortly after the failed vote in May, CAL FIRE updated its Fire Hazard Severity Zones. Much of the area protected by the pumps now falls within a “Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone.”
“Our acreage in the city of Anaheim will increase by about 300 acres if we take the maps as they came directly from CAL FIRE,” Anaheim Fire and Rescue Fire Marshal Lindsay Young told ABC7 News. “They sit in the east end of Anaheim within our Anaheim Hills area.”
In this context, a groundwater pump system doesn’t just help with landslide risk—it could also aid wildfire control.
Homeowners will now pay between $395 and $2,500 annually, depending on their property’s landslide risk, with the average cost coming in just under $1,000.
This time, 73% of weighted votes went toward approving the assessment. The votes were weighted based on how much each homeowner will pay, which corresponds to the risk level of their property.
With the new tax in place, the district now has a stable, long-term funding source to operate the pump system and protect over 300 homes from future disasters.
“It was very gratifying because there was more community input from people in getting it passed,” Guziak said. “They realized the seriousness of the situation and started talking with their neighbors. And that made a big difference.”
