On a residential property tax bill for a house in Alamo's Livorna Road neighborhoods, the enhanced police special tax for Fiscal Year 2026-2027 is $67. On a house in Round Hill, the same kind of line reads $470. In Whitegate or Bryan Ranch, neither of those lines appears on the bill.
These houses all share the 94507 ZIP code and are served by the same Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office, yet their fixed annual charges differ. A buyer comparing two Alamo listings usually asks the seller for a recent tax bill, and that bill shows what the parcel pays this year. It may not show what the next owner will pay. Contra Costa County has asked to fold every part of Alamo into one police service area with one rate. If that happens, the gap between neighborhoods closes, and it closes by raising the lower bills.
Four tax situations inside one ZIP code
Alamo is unincorporated, so it has no city government to pay for services above the county's baseline. Instead, the county uses county service areas, known as CSAs, each with its own boundary and its own special tax. The county's Alamo Police District FAQ shows which areas fall where.
| Area of Alamo | Police service area | Residential special tax, FY 2026-2027 |
|---|---|---|
| West side: below Hillgrade Avenue, the Livorna Road and Miranda Avenue neighborhoods, Stone Valley Road neighborhoods up to Round Hill Country Club on the north side and to Monte Vista on the south side | CSA P-2 Zone B | $67 per parcel |
| Round Hill, Round Hill North, Windsor Green, Regency Woods | CSA P-5 | $470 per parcel |
| Whitegate, Bryan Ranch, Hillgrade area | Neither P-2B nor P-5 | No P-2B or P-5 tax |
| Homes built after 1997, anywhere in Alamo | A CSA P-6 zone, in addition to the above | Approximately $400, per the county FAQ |
The P-2B and P-5 rates come from the special tax levy the Board of Supervisors set for Fiscal Year 2026-2027, which charges commercial recreational parcels in P-5 $932. The P-6 charge varies from zone to zone. According to the county FAQ, Alamo homes built after 1997 are placed into a P-6 zone that carries its own parcel tax. The amount depends on when that zone was created and rises each year with the Consumer Price Index. Across Alamo, the FAQ estimates it at about $400 per parcel and about $115,000 a year in total, and the Sheriff decides how P-6 money is spent, not the local police committees.
So build year affects the bill as well as location. A house built in 2005 and an older house on the same street can carry different charges.
What LAFCO 26-03 would change
On May 12, 2026, the Board of Supervisors adopted Resolution No. 2026/160, asking the Contra Costa Local Agency Formation Commission to reorganize the service areas that fund enhanced police protection in Alamo. LAFCO held its public hearing on the proposal, designated LAFCO 26-03, the Alamo Police Services Reorganization, on October 14, 2026, in the Board Chambers at 1025 Escobar Street in Martinez.
The reorganization covers about 9.9 square miles. Its rough boundaries are Las Trampas Regional Park to the southwest, Rossmoor and Walnut Creek to the west and north, Castle Hill to the northwest, Mount Diablo State Park to the east, and unincorporated Diablo to the southeast. The resolution in the October 14 hearing packet sets these terms:
- Every Alamo parcel not already in CSA P-5 would be annexed into it and charged the P-5 special tax currently in effect.
- Territory in CSA P-2 Zone B would be detached and would no longer pay the P-2B tax.
- The Board of Supervisors would dissolve every CSA P-6 zone in Alamo, ending those special taxes for Alamo parcels.
- Existing reserves would be combined into one account.
- The CSA P-5 Advisory Committee would have seven members and one alternate: two from the current P-2B committee, two from the current P-5 committee, and three at-large appointees.
The LAFCO staff report says the existing P-5 rate of $470 per parcel would then apply across all of Alamo, including the P-2B area, the P-6 zones, Hillgrade, and east Alamo. The report also states that the rate does not need voter approval under Proposition 218, because Proposition 218 does not apply to annexations. The county's stated goal is to "eliminate funding disparities" and match revenue to services. Some enhanced services, including community event security, school resource officer assignments, and resident deputy programs, already reach all of Alamo, but not every parcel pays for them. According to the county FAQ, P-5 currently pays for two additional officers and P-2B for one. Under one district, the added funding would support seven officers assigned to Alamo.
Where the change lands, house by house
How much a single $470 rate changes a bill depends on what the house pays now.
| Current situation | Today, FY 2026-2027 | Under a single P-5 rate | Annual change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Older home, P-2B west side | $67 | $470 | Up $403 |
| Home in Whitegate, Bryan Ranch or Hillgrade with no P-6 zone charge | $0 | $470 | Up $470 |
| Round Hill, Round Hill North, Windsor Green, Regency Woods | $470 | $470 | No change |
| Post-1997 home in P-2B, also paying a P-6 zone tax | $67 plus roughly $400 | $470 | Roughly flat |
| Post-1997 home in P-5, also paying a P-6 zone tax | $470 plus roughly $400 | $470 | Down by roughly the P-6 amount |
The last two rows use the county's approximate P-6 figure, and the actual P-6 amount differs by zone. Even so, the direction is clear. The biggest increases go to older homes on the west side and to the east Alamo neighborhoods that pay no P-2B or P-5 tax today. Newer homes that already pay two layers could come out about even or lower. Round Hill's bill would not change.
For buyers, this matters because the seller's bill shows the old arrangement. A west-side house built decades ago shows $67, and that number is the one most likely to rise. A newer house in Round Hill may show the highest combined charge in Alamo today, and that is the one most likely to fall.
The amounts are modest next to Alamo prices. In October 2026, the median sold price for Alamo single-family homes was $2,450,000 across 10 sales. But a special tax is charged every year for as long as the owner holds the home, and buyers who budget closely around a monthly payment should plan from the expected rate, not last year's bill.
The steps between a hearing and a tax bill
The October 14 hearing does not change any tax bill on its own. According to the resolution in the hearing packet, Commission approval is followed by a 30-day request-for-reconsideration period. Then the Executive Officer holds a protest hearing at least 30 days after approval, where affected landowners and registered voters can file written protests. The same LAFCO staff report sets out what the protest count would mean:
- Voter protest under 25 percent, together with landowner protest representing under 25 percent of assessed land value, results in an order without an election.
- Voter protest of at least 25 percent but under 50 percent, or landowner protest representing at least 25 percent of assessed land value, sends the reorganization to an election.
- Protest from a majority of voters ends the reorganization.
The reorganization takes effect when LAFCO files its Certificate of Completion. Dissolving the P-6 zones is a separate step that the Board of Supervisors takes on its own authority. The county says that once P-5 covers all of Alamo, the $470 parcel tax will be included in each owner's annual property tax bill.
Public comment was split. LAFCO's page lists 12 letters opposed, 14 in support, 4 requesting information, and 2 requesting a vote. The chairs of the P-2B and P-5 advisory committees wrote a joint letter saying both committees had voted separately for consolidation and supported a uniform $470 annual tax, while acknowledging that residents hold differing views.
What this means for a sale in Alamo this winter
Because Alamo is unincorporated, the special tax layer is not the only cost that follows county rules. The documentary transfer tax at closing is Contra Costa County's $0.55 per $500 of value, equal to $1.10 per $1,000, and Alamo has no city transfer tax on top of it. The same logic applies to the parcel tax: the county sets it, and the boundaries the county draws determine who pays.
For a buyer weighing a west-side Alamo house against one in Round Hill or Bryan Ranch, that means comparing the special tax lines on each seller's bill to the single $470 rate the county has proposed, rather than comparing the two bills to each other. For a seller, especially one on the P-2B side with a $67 line, a buyer's agent who knows about LAFCO 26-03 may raise it, and the answer belongs in the pricing conversation from the start. The county keeps the background on its Alamo Police District page, and LAFCO posts the hearing materials and correspondence on its LAFCO 26-03 page.
This post is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Confirm how any special tax applies to a specific parcel with the county or a qualified tax professional.
If you own in Alamo and want to know how your parcel's district, build year, and tax lines are likely to look to a buyer under the proposed single rate, Ann Newton Cane can walk through them with you before you set a price. Request a Confidential Home Valuation.
