One school Mello-Roos district north of 25th Street in Rancho Cucamonga set its top assigned rate at $8,789.35 a year for 2025/26. The park assessment that maintains Red Hill Community Park and Heritage Park was $31.00. Two homes listed at the same price can carry very different special charges, and the difference mostly comes down to when the tract was built and what its district was set up to do.
That gap shows up in the monthly payment and in how the medians and parks near the house are maintained, and it is set before any buyer walks through the door.
The lien is in the title report before the bill reaches you
Escrow is often when Mello-Roos first comes up. The Etiwanda School District's special tax page explains that when a Community Facilities District is formed, a Notice of Special Tax Lien is recorded on the title of every property inside it, and the tax is then added to the county property tax bill. The same page says the title report for a property in a CFD will show that recorded notice, and that sellers must disclose the CFD under Government Code Section 53340.2 before the buyer signs a purchase contract.
Timing matters too. The district updates parcel-specific figures for the current fiscal year on or about August 30 each year, and it states plainly that the data can change without notice. The Etiwanda School District board approved the levy resolutions for fiscal year 2026/27 on July 23, 2026. Those covered CFD No. 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10, Coyote Canyon, Henderson Creek, Rancho Etiwanda, Silver Ridge, Victoria Gardens, Day Creek Square, and both Pinehurst improvement areas. So the bill for the year you'd be closing in is already set. The figures below come from the most recent annual reports the district has published, and the parcel lookup shows the current one.
North-side Mello-Roos is a bond payment with a ceiling
The largest charges on the north side pay for schools and infrastructure that were built when the tracts were. Henderson Creek Public Facilities CFD No. 2004-2 is a good example. It covers 123 homes south of the east-west stretch of Wardman Bullock, west of Ambleside Place and the north-south stretch of Wardman Bullock, east of East Avenue, and north of 25th Street. It issued bonds in 2007 and refinanced them in 2015. The money paid for elementary and intermediate school facilities, Chaffey Joint Union High School District facilities, and facilities for the Metropolitan Water District and the City of Rancho Cucamonga.
For fiscal year 2025/26, the maximum assigned annual tax in Henderson Creek ran from $6,220.29 for a home under 4,001 square feet to $8,789.35 for a home over 5,500 square feet, and the district levied at 95.10% of those rates. That works out to roughly $5,915 to $8,359 for the year. At the low end, it's about $493 a month on top of the mortgage, the base property tax and insurance. For someone stretching to qualify, that amount can change which homes are affordable at all.
The reports add two details about how that number moves:
- The bill is often below the maximum. Each year the district levies only what it needs for that year's obligations, up to the maximum in its Rate and Method of Apportionment. Henderson Creek levied at 95.10% of its maximum assigned tax for 2025/26. Silver Ridge CFD 2001-1 levied at 73.24% for the same year. Rancho Etiwanda CFD No. 1 reported 74.43% for 2024/25. The district says the tax will never be levied above the maximum. The levy is reset each year based on what the district needs, so it can move anywhere up to the maximum recorded against the property.
- The ceiling rises, and the tax eventually ends. Several of these districts raise the maximum by 2% a year. CFD No. 10's assigned tax for developed property escalates at that rate, and developed property there is taxed for 30 fiscal years from classification. CFD No. 5 taxes developed parcels for 25 years, starting from each parcel's own first levy, so two neighbors' taxes can end in different years. Statewide, the district notes, CFDs that fund facilities usually run 25 to 50 years, while CFDs that fund ongoing services may have no end date.
The city runs its own CFDs as well, including fire-protection districts 85-1 and 88-1, CFD 2017-01 North Etiwanda, and CFD 2018-01 The Resort at Empire Lakes. The city's special districts page describes the last two as ongoing parkway and maintenance taxes. A new-construction home in one of those areas can carry both a school CFD that ends and a city maintenance charge that doesn't.
The west side's charge is frozen, and the city says maintenance has been cut to match
The city's Landscape Maintenance Districts, or LMDs, pay for parks, parkways and medians. On these, the order runs the other way. The city's fiscal year 2025/26 rate comparison lists LMD 1, which it calls General City and which covers about 12,100 parcels, at $92.21 and Service Level F. PD-85, which maintains Red Hill and Heritage Parks, is listed at $31.00 and Service Level C. Every newer district on the sheet is rated Service Level A.
| District | Type | Year | Annual rate per home | How it changes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Henderson Creek CFD 2004-2 | School facilities | 2025/26 | $6,220.29 to $8,789.35 maximum by size, levied at 95.10% | Levied up to a rising maximum |
| CFD No. 10 | School facilities | 2025/26 | $1,114.46 to $2,622.26, detached | 2% escalator, 30 years |
| CFD No. 5 | School facilities | 2025/26 | $630 | 25 years per parcel |
| LMD 10 Day Creek Park | Parks and parkways | 2025/26 | $914.05 | Service Level A |
| LMD 2 Victoria | Parks and parkways | 2025/26 | $589.22 | Service Level A |
| LMD 7 North Etiwanda | Parks and parkways | 2025/26 | $307.05 | Service Level A |
| LMD 1 General City | Parks and parkways | 2025/26 | $92.21 | Frozen, Service Level F |
| PD-85 Red Hill and Heritage | Parks | 2025/26 | $31.00 | No inflation escalator, Service Level C |
The city's fiscal year 2025/26 budget book explains why. The LMD 1 assessment is still $92.21 per dwelling unit, but by the budget's estimate that dollar buys about one quarter of the services, utilities and staff time it bought in 1979. A PD-85 dollar buys about one third of what it did in 1985. The city's maintenance district explainer dates the flat LMD 1 rate to 1993. In 2015 the city put Measure A on the ballot to modernize both districts, and voters rejected it with about 80% voting no.
The budget describes what has happened since. Beginning in fiscal year 2024/25, LMD 1 medians and parkways dropped to Service Level F. In many cases that means contractors visit once a month, weed and pest control happens a few times a year, and fertilizing stops. The parks in LMD 1 and PD-85 were still at Level C, but the city wrote that they are "highly likely" to fall to F within the next several years. The LMD 1 parks the city names include Bear Gulch, Beryl East and West, Hermosa, Church Street, Golden Oak and Old Town.
The budget also explains why the gap won't close by itself. LMD 1, PD-85 and a few other early districts were created without inflation escalators, while more recently built areas have them. The city cannot legally move money from other districts into LMD 1 or PD-85. Property owners in LMD 2, LMD 4-R and LMD 6-R did approve higher assessments through Proposition 218 ballots, in June 2013, December 2009 and September 2009. For LMD 1 and PD-85, the city's budget says only a voter-approved increase would change the funding.
The freeze still holds this year. On June 3, 2026, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 2026049 to levy PD-85 for fiscal year 2026/27 and set a July 15, 2026 hearing. In the published notice, the city states that the proposed levy does not exceed amounts previously authorized.
What this means when you compare two listings
Put these together and the comparison looks different. Thousands of dollars a year in school Mello-Roos usually comes from a tract built with its schools financed into it, and from an end date set when the parcel was classified. A small or near-zero special-district line comes from a tract whose maintenance districts can't keep up with costs, and changing that takes a vote of the people who pay. Both are real costs. One appears on the bill, and the other appears in how often a median gets weeded.
Before you compare two specific homes, these steps answer most of the questions:
- Get the APN from the listing or from the San Bernardino County tax collector, then run it through the Etiwanda School District parcel search to see any CFD amount for the current year.
- In the title report, look for a recorded Notice of Special Tax Lien, and read the seller's CFD disclosure.
- Open that CFD's Rate and Method of Apportionment to find the maximum tax, the escalator and the term, then compare the maximum with this year's levy.
- Check which city district covers the address on the city's special districts page and compare its service level on the rate sheet.
- Run the monthly payment with the special taxes included, since they're part of your housing cost every month.
This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Before you rely on any figure here, confirm the details for your own parcel with your escrow officer, a tax professional or your lender.
Quick answers
Can a Mello-Roos bill go up after I buy? In districts with an escalator, yes. The maximum rises each year, often by 2%, and the actual levy can be anywhere up to that maximum. It can never go above it.
When does it end? It depends on the district and sometimes on the individual parcel. CFD No. 5 runs 25 years from each parcel's first levy, and CFD No. 10 runs 30 fiscal years. CFDs that fund services may not end at all.
Is the LMD 1 rate scheduled to change? It can only rise with voter approval. The city's 2025/26 budget urged west-side property owners to reopen the discussion about a ballot measure.
If you're comparing Rancho Cucamonga homes and want the special taxes counted in the real monthly payment before you write an offer, 1st Class Realty Group can go through the parcel lookup, the title report and the loan numbers with you, in English or Spanish. Schedule a free consultation and bring the addresses you're considering.
