“Property tax bills to be less; first time ever” plus 1 more |
| Property tax bills to be less; first time ever Posted: 29 Jun 2010 07:55 PM PDT Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 7:37 p.m. When you get your property tax bill this year, you might be in for a pleasant surprise — or as pleasant a surprise as you can get when a hefty bill arrives in the mail. Some 664,000 taxpayers, accounting for almost 68 percent of all properties, will see their bill dip slightly by 0.237 percent. Because of Proposition 13, the maximum amount a property tax bill can go up is 2 percent. That 2 percent number isn't necessarily pegged to a home's value, but rather to the California Consumer Price Index, which documents overall cost-of-living increases. If the index is less than 2 percent, then taxes will only match the rate of increase. Since the price index went down 0.237 percent — the first time in history it has declined — tax bills will fall accordingly. For instance, a home with the current median home value of $340,000 would be revised down by $805 to $339,195. The tax bill, which typically is around 1 percent of the valuation, would be reduced from $3,400 a year to $3,392. That's an $8 savings. The County Assessor's Office also said it had provided temporary reductions to more than 196,000 properties either by proactively reviewing the property or because owners had appealed the current value of their homes. The Assessor's office said the number of taxpayers asking for reassessment of their property's value has declined dramatically. This year there were some 10,000 requests for review — a big decline from the previous year when there were 56,000. In terms of formal appeals, there were 42,600 on the 2008 tax roll. For 2009, the number dropped by about half to 21,588. Diana Lackey, chief deputy assessor, said because of all the reassessments, her office is encouraging property owners to wait until they receive change in value notices, which are typically sent out in mid-July, because there's a good chance they may agree with the new, lower valuation. Overall, the assessed value of all taxable property in San Diego County declined by 1.56 percent, or about $6.2 billion. The total assessed tax roll value for 2010 is $393.68 billion. Not every city experienced declines in their assessments, however. Del Mar saw its assessed value increase by almost 3.2 percent. Coronado's assessed value increased by 1.05 percent and Encinitas' was up just 0.13 percent. Chula Vista and Imperial Beach both saw declines of more than 3 percent. Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Answering property tax reappraisal, rate questions Posted: 30 Jun 2010 10:08 AM PDT There has been confusion and many questions regarding the recent county reappraisal and how it affects county property tax rates and your county property tax bill. County property tax rates are set by County Commission. The accompanying table shows the Anderson County property tax rates per $100 of assessed value for Oak Ridge property owners over the past 10 years. ("Assessed" value is 25 percent of "appraised" value for residential property.) These tax rates are the total of the tax rates for schools (where revenue is split between the three school systems based on enrollment) and the General Fund (which goes toward funding everything else). The General Fund property tax rate has not been increased by County Commission in 10 years. The school rate was increased once -- 8 cents (about 3 percent) in 2004 as noted in the table. Anderson County Property Assessor Vernon Long is required by the state to have reappraisals completed every five years. These appraisals are performed in close collaboration with the state using state-established guidelines. Property owners can appeal a reappraisal to the property assessor's office. By state law, these reappraisals must be revenue-neutral -- the county does not receive any extra revenue as a result of the reappraisal. Based on the reappraisal, the state sets a new and lower tax rate that the county must use. So when the appraised property values in the county went up an average of 16 percent in the last five years the state required that the county property tax rate be reduced by 16 percent. An example might help explain. In 2001, an Oak Ridge home appraised for $100,000 had a county property tax bill of $785 and a tax rate of $3.14. After reappraisals in 2005 and again in 2010, if that home's appraisal increased at the same rate as the average of all county property, it would now be appraised for $142,500. It will now have a county tax bill of $805 based on the current adjusted tax rate of $2.26. Thus this "average" homeowner's bill went up only $20 in 10 years (because of the 8-cent increase for schools in 2005.) The total county property tax collection for General Fund and all three school systems during those 10 years increased from $32 million to $40 (nearly $1 million because of the 8-cent school tax increase in 2004 and $7 million because of new residential and industrial property being added to the tax rolls.) Homeowners with appraisals that increased more then the average rate for the county have had their tax bill increased. Those with appraisals that increased less then the average rate have had their tax bill reduced. County Commission sets the property tax rate for operating county government and the school system. County Commission has no control over appraisals, how and when they are done, or the reappraisal-adjusted tax rates. Our budget and tax rate for next year have not been set yet. Contrary to the Budget Committee's recommendation, the full Commission increased General Fund spending two years ago but used $2 million from the county's saving account -- its "rainy-day fund" -- to fund this expense that reoccurs every year. As a result, our savings account has been largely depleted and we do not have enough new revenue to continue funding this $2 million increased spending level next year. We are continuing to look for ways to reduce spending to avoid a tax increase next year. *** Year Tax Rate Change 2001 $3.14 0 2002 $3.14 0 2003 $3.14 0 2004 $3.22 +0.08 (for Schools) 2005 $2.68 -$0.54 (due to reappraisal} 2006 $2.68 0 2007 $2.68 0 2008 $2.68 0 2009 $2.68 0 2010 $2.26 -$0.42 (due to reappraisal) Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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