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Introduction <br />At the request of the North San Diego County Association of Realtors, San Diego Taxpayers <br />Advocate was asked to analyze the fiscal impact of rent control on the City of Oceanside. Rent <br />control was enacted almost 30 years ago. <br />Areas Reviewed <br />Four basic areas were considered in analyzing the fiscal impact on Oceanside's taxpayers <br />Mobile Home Rent Control Fund —City records detailing rent control related revenues and <br />expenditures from fiscal years 1999 through 2011 were examined. Records for the previous 15 <br />years of rent control revenues and costs were NOT available for this study. <br />Lost Property Tax Revenue —Rent control prevents mobile park owners from charging fair <br />market rent, so the values of the underlying properties are artificially depressed. Income <br />properties are valued primarily on how much net income it can generate to the property <br />owner. Property taxes are based on the assessed value of a property and its improvements. A <br />conservative estimate of "lost property taxes" as a result of two decades of rent control is <br />included in this study. <br />Other Staff expenditures —Other city records and documents were reviewed to attempt to <br />determine additional costs related to rent control, which are NOT delineated in the "Mobile <br />Rent Control Fund." Since a detailed tracking of all staff hours spent on rent control issues is <br />not available, the full and complete personnel cost of rent control is unknown and cannot be <br />accurately estimated in this report. <br />Outside Legal costs --While it is evident that outside legal firms have been utilized to deal with <br />the contentious issue of rent control, it seems likely from the data available that all rent <br />control -related legal costs have not been quantified. This leaves a great "unknown" in <br />compiling full costs of rent control and cannot be accurately estimated in this report. <br />Detailed Findings <br />As a result of rent control, Oceanside Taxpayers have spent and lost approximately $7.5 million <br />since 1999*. The city has collected approximately $1.7 million over that period in mobile home <br />park registration fees. So the estimated NET cost and lost tax revenue to the taxpayers since <br />