Simi Valley Mello-Roos (CFD) Assessments by Tract

Mello-Roos -- formally a Community Facilities District (CFD) assessment -- is a fixed annual special tax that funds infrastructure bonds for newer developments. It appears as a line item on the property tax bill alongside the Prop 13 base rate. In Simi Valley, the answer to 'does this house have Mello-Roos?' depends almost entirely on which tract it sits in. Pre-1985 neighborhoods (Bridle Path, Strathearn, Tamarack, the Knolls, Texas Tract, most of Whitemark/Madera) carry no Mello-Roos. Wood Ranch's original CFDs are largely paid off but vary lot-by-lot. Big Sky and parts of Sycamore Grove carry active CFDs averaging $1,800 to $4,500 per year. This page is the reference table -- 18 tracts with current status and typical assessment ranges. All numbers are typical ranges; verify the exact figure for a specific address with the Ventura County Treasurer-Tax Collector and the CFD administrator named on the prior tax bill.

How to use this lookup

Find your tract (or the tract of a home you are considering) in the table below. The CFD column shows the typical annual assessment range as of May 2026. Status indicates whether the CFD is active, partially paid off, or has no Mello-Roos at all.

Important: ranges are typical; individual parcels can vary based on lot size, square footage, phase of the development, and whether a prior owner paid off the CFD early. The only authoritative source for a specific address is the prior-year tax bill from the Ventura County Treasurer-Tax Collector, with the CFD line itemized and the administrator's phone number printed on the bill.

If you are evaluating a home and the listing agent cannot or will not produce the prior tax bill, that is a useful signal in itself. Ask for it in writing.

The data table

Eighteen major Simi Valley tracts and their typical May 2026 CFD exposure:

Caveats: how to verify the actual number for your address

Step 1 -- pull the prior tax bill. Go to the Ventura County Treasurer-Tax Collector parcel lookup (venturapropertytax.org), enter the property address, and download the prior-year secured property tax bill PDF. The CFD will appear as a separate line item with the administrator's name and phone number.

Step 2 -- call the CFD administrator. Common Simi Valley CFD administrators include Koppel & Gruber Public Finance, NBS, and Willdan Financial Services. Ask: (1) the current year's exact assessment, (2) the annual escalator, (3) the remaining bond term (when the CFD ends), and (4) whether a prepayment / payoff option exists and at what amount.

Step 3 -- request the CFD disclosure from the seller. California Civil Code Section 1102 requires sellers to provide a Notice of Special Tax (Mello-Roos disclosure) when applicable. Read it. It lists the maximum annual special tax, the term, and the purposes for which it was levied.

Wood Ranch caveat: Because Wood Ranch was developed across many phases with original CFDs now largely matured, the 'is there a CFD here?' answer varies by parcel. Two homes 500 feet apart can have different answers. Always pull the actual tax bill -- the Mello-Roos lookup table is a starting point, not a final answer.

What you'll pay each year in different brackets

Putting the table data in perspective by home price:

Monthly impound is annual total / 12. On the median $885K home, that is $848/month in tax with no CFD, $1,015/month in Sycamore Grove, $1,098/month in Big Sky. The $250/month difference between Wood Ranch and Big Sky -- same price, different tract -- changes how much income you need to qualify by roughly $7,000/year on standard DTI math.

Sources and update cadence

Tract assignments and typical CFD ranges are compiled from Ventura County Assessor parcel data, Ventura County Treasurer-Tax Collector prior tax bills, CFD administrator annual statements (Koppel & Gruber, NBS, Willdan), and direct review of seller disclosures on Simi Valley transactions through May 2026.

The table is reviewed and updated twice annually -- in January (after the December secured tax installment) and in July (after the new fiscal year). If you spot an out-of-date entry, email brian@cooperfamilyrealestate.com.

Methodology note. 'Active' means the CFD bonds are still outstanding and a typical single-family parcel in the tract carries an annual assessment in the stated range. 'Mostly paid off' means original bonds have matured but some special improvement districts or refunding bonds may still apply. 'None' means the tract was developed before the 1982 Mello-Roos Act took effect or was financed through other means.

How a CFD actually forms and gets paid off

The Community Facilities District process in California follows the 1982 Mello-Roos Act. Understanding the lifecycle helps you read the disclosure documents:

Formation. A local agency (city, school district, water district) identifies infrastructure needed for a new development. They propose a CFD covering the affected parcels. At formation, fewer than 12 registered voters typically live in the proposed district -- so the developer-owned parcels vote, and they vote yes. This is legal under Government Code 53326. Effectively, the developer agrees to a tax on future homeowners.

Bond issuance. The CFD issues tax-exempt municipal bonds backed by the special tax stream. Proceeds fund streets, water, sewer, parks, schools, fire stations. Bond term is typically 25-40 years.

Annual collection. The CFD administrator computes each parcel's annual special tax per the Rate and Method of Apportionment (RMA) filed at formation. Collection happens on the regular secured property tax bill. The county forwards the money to the CFD trustee, which pays bondholders.

Maturity. When the bonds are paid off, the special tax ends -- on schedule. This is why older Simi Valley tracts that formed CFDs in the late 1980s and early 1990s now show zero or near-zero current assessments.

Refunding. CFDs can refinance their bonds when interest rates fall, extending or restructuring the special tax stream. Refunding can lower annual assessments, raise them, or extend the term. Always check whether the CFD has had refunding bonds issued.

Reading the Notice of Special Tax disclosure

California Civil Code 1102.6b requires sellers in a Mello-Roos CFD to provide a Notice of Special Tax Disclosure. The standardized form lists six things worth reading in full before removing your contingency:

(1) The maximum annual special tax -- the highest amount the CFD can ever charge per the RMA, not just the current year. Often noticeably higher than today's bill.

(2) The annual escalator percentage -- typically 0-2% per year.

(3) The bond maturity date -- when the special tax ends, assuming no refunding.

(4) The purposes for which the tax was levied -- list of facilities funded.

(5) Whether prepayment is allowed and the approximate prepayment amount.

(6) Tax-exempt status -- is the underlying bond interest tax-exempt to bondholders. Usually yes for residential CFDs.

How Mello-Roos affects pricing in the resale market

Academic and industry research consistently finds that CFD-encumbered homes sell at a small discount to otherwise-comparable non-CFD homes, reflecting the capitalized present value of future special tax payments. The size of the discount varies with bond term remaining, annual amount, interest rates, and market expectations.

Rough math: a $3,000/year CFD with 20 years remaining and a 6% discount rate has a present value of approximately $34,400. In an efficient market, that shows up as a price discount of similar magnitude. In practice, buyers tend to focus on monthly carrying cost rather than capitalized PV, so the actual market discount is often less than the full theoretical value -- but it is not zero.

Implication for Big Sky sellers -- price-comp against other Big Sky CFD homes, not against no-CFD Wood Ranch or Bridle Path homes. The buyer pool is paying for the CFD whether they think about it explicitly or not.

Implication for Big Sky buyers -- ask about lifetime CFD remaining when comparing. Two Big Sky homes at the same price, one with 8 years of CFD remaining and one with 25 years, are not equivalent. The 8-year-remaining home is materially more valuable on a total-cost basis.

Mello-Roos in mortgage qualifying

Lenders count Mello-Roos in your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio because it is a fixed, recurring obligation tied to the property. A $3,000/year Big Sky CFD = $250/month on your DTI. At a 43% back-end DTI cap, that $250 requires roughly $580/month more gross income to qualify -- about $7,000/year. The CFD is not incidental from an underwriting perspective.

When pre-shopping a Big Sky or Sycamore Grove home, make sure your loan officer is using the actual current-year CFD figure in the qualifying math, not the base property tax rate only. The most common Simi Valley pre-approval bait-and-switch is a buyer told they qualify for $1.1M, then finding the qualifying number drops to $1.05M once the lender factors in the actual CFD on the property they identified.

If you are pre-shopping for max purchase power and torn between tracts, the no-CFD neighborhoods give you more buying power at the same income level. Same math, opposite direction: $250/month freed up = $30,000-$40,000 more purchase price you can support.

Common Mello-Roos misconceptions

• Misconception: 'Mello-Roos is just a higher property tax rate.' Reality: CFD is a flat annual amount, not a percentage. A $3,000 CFD on an $885K home is 0.34%; on a $1.5M home it is still $3,000 (0.20%). Higher-priced homes in CFD tracts have a lower effective CFD rate.
• Misconception: 'Mello-Roos goes away when I pay off my mortgage.' Reality: No. The CFD is attached to the parcel, not the loan. It continues until the bonds mature.
• Misconception: 'New owners avoid Mello-Roos by waiting for it to be paid off.' Reality: You inherit whatever years remain. Big Sky CFDs formed in 2005 run through the 2030s or 2040s.
• Misconception: 'Wood Ranch has high Mello-Roos because it is gated.' Reality: Wood Ranch's original CFDs are largely paid off. The Wood Ranch monthly cost driver is the HOA (master + sub), not the CFD.
• Misconception: 'My CPA can fully deduct my CFD.' Reality: Only the portion paying bond interest is potentially deductible, and the SALT cap limits total state + local tax deduction to $10K annually for itemizers.

Interpreting the CFD line on a Ventura County tax bill

A typical Ventura County secured property tax bill for a CFD-encumbered Simi Valley home has the following line structure on the back of the bill:

Ad valorem (Prop 13 base): 1.000% of assessed value. Cannot exceed 1% per Prop 13.

Voter-approved debt service: Multiple line items, one per bond issue. Simi Valley Unified, Ventura County Community College, water district, etc. Total typically 0.10-0.20%.

Direct assessments / special taxes: Flat per-parcel charges. Includes the Mello-Roos CFD (itemized with administrator name and phone), plus small charges like vector control, mosquito abatement, and lighting and landscape maintenance districts.

If you see 'CFD 2003-1' or similar followed by a dollar amount and an administrator phone number, that is the Mello-Roos. Call the administrator to confirm current year, escalator, term, and prepayment option.

What this lookup is and is not

This page is: a starting reference for Simi Valley buyers and sellers to orient themselves on which neighborhoods carry active CFD assessments and what the typical annual ranges look like as of May 2026. Sortable, scannable, ranges expressed honestly as ranges (not single point estimates).

This page is not: parcel-level data. Two homes 200 feet apart in Big Sky can have different CFD allocations based on lot size, square footage, or phase of the development. The CFD's Rate and Method of Apportionment (RMA) is a multi-page formula filed at formation; the actual current-year figure is on the tax bill, not in this table.

How to use it. Use this lookup to screen which tracts fit your search. Use the Ventura County Tax Collector parcel lookup to get the actual current-year figure for a specific address. Confirm with the CFD administrator before removing your inspection contingency.

Editorial standards. Ranges are stated as typical ranges from the most recent fiscal year of secured tax bills available, cross-checked against CFD administrator annual statements. Anything marked 'verify' means the situation in that tract varies enough lot-to-lot that a single number would mislead. When in doubt, call the administrator.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Mello-Roos?

A Community Facilities District (CFD) special tax authorized by California's 1982 Mello-Roos Act. Local agencies use it to fund infrastructure bonds for new development -- streets, parks, schools, fire stations. It is a fixed annual amount per parcel and appears on the property tax bill.

Which Simi Valley neighborhoods have no Mello-Roos?

Pre-1985 tracts including Bridle Path, Strathearn, Tamarack, the Knolls, Texas Tract, Indian Hills, Madera Royale and Whitemark. Wood Ranch's original CFDs are mostly paid off but verification per parcel is recommended.

How do I find my exact Mello-Roos amount?

Pull the property's prior-year secured tax bill from the Ventura County Treasurer-Tax Collector (venturapropertytax.org). The CFD is itemized with the administrator's contact info. Call the administrator to confirm the current year's amount, escalator, and remaining term.

How long does a CFD last?

Typically 25 to 40 years from when the bonds were issued. The seller's Notice of Special Tax disclosure lists the expected end date. Big Sky CFDs formed in the mid-2000s generally run through the 2030s or 2040s.

Can a CFD increase each year?

Most include an annual escalator of up to 2 percent per year. The exact escalator is in the CFD's rate and method of apportionment, available from the CFD administrator.

Can I pay off a Mello-Roos early?

Sometimes -- depends on the bond covenants. Payoff amounts for a residential parcel typically run $30,000-$60,000. The CFD administrator can quote a current payoff figure. Whether it makes financial sense depends on your hold horizon.

Is Mello-Roos tax-deductible?

Partially. The IRS treats the portion that pays bond interest as potentially deductible property tax (subject to SALT cap); the principal portion generally is not. The CFD administrator's annual statement breaks this down. Confirm with your CPA.

Does Mello-Roos affect home value?

It affects monthly carrying cost, which affects what buyers can qualify to pay. Studies show CFD-encumbered homes typically sell at a small discount vs comparable non-CFD homes, reflecting capitalized future payments. The market effect varies by tract and price point.

Related on this site

• Simi Valley real estate overview
• Simi Valley homes with no Mello-Roos
• Big Sky homes for sale
• Wood Ranch real estate
• Property tax calculator
• HOA fees by neighborhood
• Closing cost calculator
• Contact Brian