Tesla is the biggest property taxpayer in the Manteca Unified School District.
The electric vehicle manufacturer’s footprint in Lathrop is over a million square feet including 500,000-square feet it owns with the rest in long-term leases.
Tesla’s $164,054,192 assessed valuation accounts for 1.13 percent of the school district’s $13.5 billion assessed valuation. Typically 1 percent of the assessed value is collected in taxes each year meaning the Tesla property tax bill in Lathrop is $1.6 million of which half or $800,000 goes to the district.
As Lathrop’s largest taxpayer that city collects in the neighborhood of $250,000 in property taxes or enough to cover roughly two police officer positions.
The Lathrop complex with hundreds of employees that serves as a casting plant for the Fremont assembly plant that employs 10,000 workers is also has a big impact on the local economy based on its payroll. Paysa lists the average salary at Lathrop’s Tesla operations at $80,149.
San Joaquin County Health Director Dr. Maggie May deemed Tesla’s Lathrop manufacturing plant as an “essential business” at the start of the pandemic and allowed it to stay operating. Park’s counterpart in Alameda County considered the Tesla assembly line operation in Fremont as “non-essential” and shut it down in mid-March. Tesla CEO Elon Musk opened it Monday in defiance of an Alameda County order to keep it closed. On Tuesday Tesla and Alameda County reached an agreement that allows the plant to stay open.
Manufacturing, distribution and agricultural industrial concerns account for all but two of the top 20 property taxpayers within Manteca Unified. The bulk of those are located in Lathrop, in west Manteca, and near Stockton Airport.
The No. 2 largest taxpayer is CenterPoint Properties Trust with a series of distribution centers in northwest Manteca including 5.11 Tactical and Penske Logistics that handles Lowe’s Home Improvement’s Northern California distribution. The assessed value of their properties is $152.3 million. The City of Manteca receives roughly $182,000 a year in property taxes from CenterPoint. As such it is the City of Manteca’s largest property taxpayer.
Third on the list is Delicato Vineyards north of Manteca at $109.9 million. The winery has just completed a major expansion.
The first property that is not a warehouse or a distribution center that pops up on the list is the Manteca Lifestyle Center anchored by Bass Pro Shops. Its $52.4 million assessed value is No. 12 on the list.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
