designated historic building. The designation can be

at the local, state, or national level.

Contact your local “Office of the City Clerk”. Each

city has different local procedures for local historic

designation. Your building may already be considered

a contributing structure to an established historic

area. Also, many buildings that were listed on past

local historic building surveys were not designated

when the survey was done but would qualify as

historic now. As a general rule, to qualify as historic,

a building must be at least 50 years old and be a

good example of a particular architectural style or be

associated with a person or event of local, statewide,

or national historic importance.

helping preserve your property for the future, so

preserving your property must be one of your goals. In

theory, we should all be stewards of our property

and should seek to be true to the property’s original

architectural style. By seeking historic designation,

you are acknowledging your role and responsibility in

keeping this structure safe as a contributing member

to your city’s historic fabric. If your property is granted

historic status, then this means you would not replace

wood windows with aluminum ones, not cover

original wood with stucco or vinyl siding, and not put

an addition on the building that is visible from the

sidewalk in front of your home. In fact, if any of these

unsympathetic “improvements” were done to your

property, and your property does qualify as historic,

you could use your tax savings under the Mills Act to

undo the damage done by previous owners. By getting

your property historically designated, you are

helping preserve your area’s architectural legacy. You

are adding your name to the ranks of those who care

about where we live.

The Mills Act is a 10-year, “endlessly renewable,”

legally binding contract with the city. After your

property is historically designated, you would fill out

a Mills Act application and submit it to your city with

a minor fee (estimate $25.00). When your Mills Act

application is approved, you will be sent a contract

to sign and have notarized. By signing this document,

you are agreeing, in principle, that in return

for the tax savings you are going to preserve your

building. Your Mills Act contract, if you are in good

standing and not in violation of the ordinance, is

endless renewable: it will always have 10 more years

on it, unless for some reason you wished to cancel

the contract. (You won’t want to cancel. See related

question below.)

will be as legally binding on the city that issued it as it

will be on you. There will be no need to pay back the

tax savings because of the city canceling a contract.

The cities with successful Mills Act programs do not

require submittal of receipts to prove that the tax

savings were put back into the home. (The Mills Act is

not a reimbursement program.) Not having to show

how you spent the tax savings toward your historic

building maintenance or restoration will save a lot of

administrative time and money on the part of the city.

Tax savings can be big often up to 60 percent.

That’s a lot of savings! The County Assessor’s Office

determines the tax savings by applying a complex

formula to the current amount of taxes being paid to

determine the new amount.

In many cities, an owner would apply any time during

the year, with usually an autumn cut-off date, in order

for the tax savings to be reflected in the April tax bill.

never have to open your home to the public as a

condition of your Mills Act contract.

Often there is language as part of the ordinance that

would allow for an inspection by city officials, but an

inspection would usually only be requested if the City

suspected that an owner was violating the Mills Act

contract. In other cities in California with the Mills

Act, a yearly drive-by inspection is usually all it is done

to be sure that the property under contract is being

cared for.

The new owner assumes the benefits of the Mills Act

contract! Lucky for the new owner! This means that

during less-than-robust economic times, your building

with a Mills Act contract just got that much more

desirable in comparison to other similar properties.

Because each municipality must adopt the Mills Act,

each local city government must make a decision to

offer this preservation tool. Some cities do not

embrace historic preservation as a revitalization tool;

they wipe away old buildings and neighborhoods and

encourage only new development. Wise city councils

realize you need the old with the new (you need to

have a “past” in order to see the “future”) and that

historic preservation brings cultural tourism and local

reinvestment. By offering the Mills Act, your city

would be saying that historic preservation is good

for the city and good for the building owner. The

revitalization of neighborhoods is contagious.

When you see what you save versus what you pay,

you'll never want to give up the Mills Act. If for some

reason you do want to cancel, you can give written

notice that you want to cancel, and in 10 years your

contract would be void. If you wanted to cancel

sooner, you would have to repay your tax savings

and possibly submit a fine. However, to date there

has been only ONE contract in the State of California

that was voided because of improper behavior of the

applicant toward his historic home. The tax benefits

had to be repaid, with penalty.

Mills Act information provided by Louise Torio, City of San Diego

This information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.