$20 Million in Property Taxes Not Paid : Finances: It marks the second year in a row that the delinquency rate has increased. County officials blame the trend on the downturn in the economy.

Delinquent property taxes in Ventura County totaled nearly $20 million in the fiscal year that ended last week--an increase of $7.5 million over the previous year, according to a report by the county tax collector.

The owners of 8,077 parcels failed to pay their property taxes by June 30, contrasted with 6,360 the previous fiscal year, according to the report.

Almost 19% of the delinquent tax dollars in 1990-91 were from tax bills of more than $25,000, the report said.

The $19,931,345 in late taxes represent the second consecutive year that the county’s delinquency rate has increased. Officials said it indicates that the downturn in the economy has continued to affect the ability of landowners to pay their taxes.

“This is confirmation that the recession is here,” Assistant Treasurer-Tax Collector John McKinney said. “We are concerned but not alarmed.”

Because of tough economic times, Treasurer-Tax Collector Harold S. Pittman said he had been expecting an even higher number of delinquent taxpayers. “I was pleased that it wasn’t more than that,” he said.

The overdue payments represent a 4.66% delinquency rate for fiscal year 1990-91, contrasted with a 3.28% delinquency rate the previous fiscal year, the report said. The county had a delinquency rate of 2.7% in the 1988-89 fiscal year, according to the state controller’s office.

Despite the increase, McKinney said the county’s delinquency rate continues to rank among the lowest in the state.

“This is a pretty conservative county,” he said. “People here pay their bills.”

Joseph Nicosia, an associate analyst at the state controller’s office, agreed. He said that during the 1989-90 fiscal year, the average delinquency rate for the state’s 58 counties was 3.8%; Ventura County’s was 3.28%.

“They fare rather well,” he said, adding that the state’s average delinquency rate for 1990-91 has not been calculated.

Each year’s property taxes are split into two installments, due by April 10 and Dec. 10. Landowners who miss the deadline are assessed a 10% penalty. If the overdue taxes and penalty are not paid by June 30, the tax collector adds an additional 1.5% penalty for every month the taxes are not paid.

If a landowner fails to pay property taxes for five consecutive years, the county has the authority to auction the property to the highest bidder to cover the overdue taxes.

McKinney said the owners of about 90 of the county’s 208,198 taxable properties failed to pay taxes for the past five years. He said most of those properties are small slivers of vacant land that are between other large parcels.

Among those who owed the biggest tax bills in 1990-91 are the owners of the Radisson Hotel Simi Valley, the Mandalay Beach Resort and Hotel in Oxnard, Ojai Valley Community Hospital and the Oxnard Town Center.

Owners of the Radisson Hotel failed to pay $228,241 in property taxes. A hotel spokesman said the taxes had not been paid because of financial problems that date back to January, 1988, when the La Jolla-based developer of the hotel--formally known as the Ramada Hotel--filed for bankruptcy.

Operators of the Mandalay Beach Resort and Hotel have failed to pay $193,716 in property taxes this year, in addition to about $681,000 in unpaid property taxes accumulated the past four years. On May 15, hotel representatives filed for Chapter 11 to renegotiate more than $21 million in debts.

Similarly, operators of Ojai Valley Community Hospital failed to pay $54,156 in property taxes. A hospital spokesman said Affiliated Medical Enterprises, the Orange-based company that bought the hospital in 1987, filed for bankruptcy in February.

The developers of Oxnard Town Center, which is planned to be the largest commercial development in the county’s history, said they failed to pay $124,959 in property taxes this year because their money was tied up in an effort to buy out one of the project’s partners.

“I wouldn’t take it as a reason for alarm,” said Paul Denis, a vice president of River Edge Development Co.

County Property Taxes

For fiscal 1990-91

Change from 1989-90 to 1989-90 1990-91 1990-91 Total taxes billed $378,694,385 $427,346,069 $48,651,684 Total taxes collected $366,265,871 $407,414,724 $41,148,853 Delinquent taxes $12,428,514 $19,931,345 $7,502,831 Delinquency rate 3.28% 4.66% -1.38%