Hilltop elitists or just another neighborhood? Phillips Ranch unpacked

Is Phillips Ranch a city? Why are they so pretentious?

When I first heard Leslie Knope from “Parks and Recreation,” describe people from Eagleton, Indiana as:

“Snobby condescending jerks.”

I knew exactly what she was talking about. Growing up in Pomona, we had our own rich, snobby, seems-like-they-have-the-best-parks-in-the-area, city right next to us. Except it wasn’t a city.

Cue dramatic chipmunk sound affect.

It turns out the quote/unquote city I grew up envious of is a master-planned community located in the southwest portion of the city limits of Pomona, also known as Phillips Ranch.

A master planned community is a large-scale, mixed-use residential development with curated amenities that aim to give residents the experience of living in a self-contained town, according to Bankrate.

Typically, these communities are developed by a single developer. In the case of Phillips Ranch, the MPC was developed by Louis Lesser and his enterprise. He purchased the ranch from the Phillips family in 1964 and built 10,000 units.

Phillips Ranch uses the same zip code as Pomona. They pay the same taxes as Pomona. They just claim a different name when they get their gold plates delivered from Costco! But I still didn’t understand where the entitlement comes from.

Pomona makes their budget available online and I decided to take a deep dive into it. Going deeper into the rabbit hole, I found a section in the city budget called, “Phillips Ranch Landscape and Lighting maintenance assessment district.”

According to the State Treasurer’s office, assessment districts are “used by local agencies to finance public improvements and services. Each property within an assessment district is given a proportional amount to cover the cost of the improvements or services it receives.”

So, Is that where they get their pompous nose lift from?

For the 2024-2025 fiscal budget, Pomona granted the Phillips Ranch Maintenance Assessment District a little over $952 hundred thousand dollars.

The budget consists of a special charge that is collected as part of the property tax.

Turns out the title of “elitist hill people,” comes with a hefty price tag. Let’s just call it the pretentious tax. The condescending tone I get from its residents stems from the sense of self-importance they’ve bought into with their payments.

No wonder I felt emotionally abused any time I’d sub at Diamond Ranch High.

So the next time you drive up Rio Rancho Road into the land of the snooty munchkins, admire the well-manicured bushes, breathe in the arrogant scent in the air and remind the residents no matter how fancy their address sounds, they’re still from Pomona.