Countywide : Assessor Explains Tax Cut Notice

Ventura County Assessor Jerry Sanford is the first to admit that notices sent to homeowners this week informing them of a property tax reduction can be difficult to interpret.

At least 500 of the 31,000 property owners who were mailed the forms Wednesday will call the assessor’s office for help in determining just what all those numbers mean, Sanford said.

“I could make it a lot easier, but we have to use a state-prescribed form,” Sanford said. “Anything you get from the state is extremely complicated.”

Homeowners who received the notices can calculate how much they will pay in property taxes this year by locating the net taxable value marked “temporary.” That figure is the assessed value of the home as of March, 1992, minus the $7,000 homeowner’s exemption. Taxes owed will equal roughly 1% of that price, Sanford said.

In the sample tax notice pictured, for instance, 1% of $277,000 is $2,770. That is how much the homeowner would pay when tax bills are sent out in October, Sanford said.

The “base year” figures reflect the assessed value of the home at the time it was purchased. The difference between “base year” and “temporary” assessment is the loss in value since the home was purchased, Sanford said.

The average value of a Ventura County home has continued its drop from $252,000 in 1990 to $220,000 this year. The 31,000 homeowners whose property has been reassessed at a lower value will see an average $300 savings on property tax bills, Sanford said.

To determine savings, subtract 1% of the temporary price from 1% of the base year price. In the example, the savings would be $67. About 84% of homeowners who bought a house after 1988 will see a reduction, Sanford said.

Bills are mailed in the fall and property tax payments are due in two installments, the first on Dec. 10 and the second on April 10.

Sanford said he has his own opinion on why Sacramento bureaucrats have made the tax notices so difficult to read. “I think it’s designed that way on purpose,” he said. “Confusion sometimes is the order of the day up there.”