Property tax · FY 2026-27 rates
Mello-Roos in Santaluz: what it costs
Written by Sofia Azizi, CA DRE# 02108624 · Updated 2026-09-09
Santaluz homes sit in one of three improvement areas of the City of San Diego’s Community Facilities District No. 2, and the FY 2026-27 levies — set at 46.55, 60.06 and 56.54 percent of each area’s fixed maximum — run from $995.80 for the smallest homes to $5,041.24 on a custom lot. All three areas are bonded, and the last levy falls in FY 2029-30 for two of them and FY 2032-33 for the third.
How much is Mello-Roos in Santaluz?
Santaluz’s special tax for FY 2026-27 depends on the improvement area and the home’s size class: in Improvement Area 1, which is Santaluz itself, a 3,750–4,049 sq ft home pays $2,753.38 this year, a custom-lot home pays $5,041.24, and the smallest class, under 1,750 sq ft, pays $995.80 — every figure being 46.55 percent of a maximum that has not changed since FY 2010-11.
The levy floats because the city collects only what that year’s bond payment needs. The maximum for each class was set at formation and escalated 2 percent a year until FY 2010-11, when the escalator ended; since then the city has levied whatever fraction of the fixed maximum covers debt service, which is why the same house paid a different amount last year and will again next year. Improvement Area 3, the 93-home Fairbanks Highlands enclave, levies 60.06 percent of its maximum in FY 2026-27 — $2,776.20 to $3,884.98 by size — and Improvement Area 4, Fairbanks Summit, levies 56.54 percent, $1,833.38 to $2,945.44.
The city publishes the full class-by-class table in each area’s administration report, linked under the table below, and the charge appears as its own line on the county tax bill under the fund number shown. Poway Unified’s CFD No. 12 report also lists a single Santaluz parcel, so the school district’s lookup is worth running on any address near the Del Sur boundary.
When does Santaluz Mello-Roos end?
Santaluz’s three improvement areas are bonded facilities districts with a final maturity written into the bonds: Improvement Areas 1 and 3 make their last levy in FY 2029-30, with bonds maturing September 1, 2030, and Improvement Area 4 runs to FY 2032-33 — so a buyer in 2026 is looking at four or seven more annual bills, not thirty.
The balances are small and falling. Improvement Area 1 had $14,820,000 of its 2021 refunding bonds outstanding on June 30, 2025, dropping to $10,045,000 after the September 2026 payment; Improvement Area 3 had $1,525,000, falling to $1,055,000; Improvement Area 4 had $3,660,000, falling to $2,940,000. Because the levy is whatever share of the fixed maximum the year’s debt service requires, the annual figure can move a little in either direction until the last payment.
For a buyer the arithmetic is unusual for a Mello-Roos community: on a home in Improvement Area 1 the special tax is a cost with a visible end date inside a normal ownership period, which is not true of the 4S Ranch or Del Sur school-district levies that run into the 2040s.
Which Santaluz homes are in which improvement area?
Improvement Area 1 of the City of San Diego’s CFD No. 2 is Santaluz proper — about 2,546 acres and 989 taxable parcels, the golf course among them — plus 46 attached Del Norte Cottages units outside the gates; Improvement Area 3 is Fairbanks Highlands, 93 homes and a church south of Camino Del Sur; and Improvement Area 4 is Fairbanks Summit, 186 homes and 36 affordable units on Santaluz’s western edge.
Improvement Area 2 appears on the city’s boundary map but has never been levied and has no report. The improvement area, not the street, is what the bill follows, and the county’s parcel search returns every line on a given parcel. The affordable units carry their own nominal rates: $57.86 in Area 1 and $68.92 in Area 4.
The districts and their rates
| District | Annual tax, FY 2026-27 | Range and cap | Ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| CFD No. 2 (Santaluz) Improvement Area 1 Fund 6085-14 · facilities | $2,753.38 developed home, 3,750–4,049 sq ft class (104 of 989 parcels); custom lots $5,041.24 (281 parcels) | $995.80 (under 1,750 sq ft) to $5,041.24 (custom lot); affordable units $57.86 maximum $2,139.35–$10,830.46 by class, fixed since FY 2010-11; levied at 46.55% of maximum | FY 2029-30 (last levy) |
| CFD No. 2 Improvement Area 3 (Fairbanks Highlands) Fund 6086-06 · facilities | $2,949.72 developed home, 4,050–4,499 sq ft class (34 of 93 homes) | $2,776.20 (3,750–4,049 sq ft) to $3,884.98 (6,000–6,499 sq ft); the church parcel $517.54 maximum $2,914.59–$6,988.35, fixed since FY 2010-11; levied at 60.06% of maximum | FY 2029-30 (last levy) |
| CFD No. 2 Improvement Area 4 (Fairbanks Summit) Fund 6086-07 · facilities | $2,945.44 developed home over 4,600 sq ft (67 of 186 homes) | $1,833.38 (under 3,600 sq ft) to $2,945.44 (over 4,600 sq ft); affordable units $68.92 maximum $3,242.50–$5,209.27, fixed since FY 2012-13; levied at 56.54% of maximum | FY 2032-33 (last levy) |
The County Auditor publishes a parcel lookup, County of San Diego special assessments parcel search, which returns the current levy for a specific address. Use it before an offer; the table above tells you what to expect, the lookup tells you what is true for that parcel.
A Mello-Roos amount is specific to the parcel, not the neighborhood: it varies by district, improvement area and the phase a home was built in. The authoritative figure is the line item on the property tax bill, which names the district and gives a contact number. Figures above are the administrators’ published rates for fiscal year 2026-27, retrieved 2026-09-08; most districts escalate annually, so next year’s bill will be higher by the stated percentage.
Sources
- City of San Diego, CFD No. 2 (Santaluz) Improvement Area 1 — FY 2026-27 Administration Report — CFD No. 2 (Santaluz) Improvement Area 1, high confidence
- City of San Diego, CFD No. 2 Improvement Area 3 — FY 2026-27 Administration Report — CFD No. 2 Improvement Area 3 (Fairbanks Highlands), high confidence
- City of San Diego, CFD No. 2 Improvement Area 4 — FY 2026-27 Administration Report — CFD No. 2 Improvement Area 4 (Fairbanks Summit), high confidence
Which districts are named for Santaluz in the County Auditor’s list, and the administrator contacts, are on the Santaluz guide; every community we cover is on the Mello-Roos lookup.
Want the number for a specific address?
Send the address and we will pull the district, the current levy and the remaining term together with what comparable homes on that street actually sold for.
Last updated 2026-09-09