A Former L.A. County Assessor Offers Some Pointers on Property Taxes

The information contained in Carla Lazzareschi’s answer to the letter from H.G.H. in Sunday’s “Money Talk” column (“Getting a Reappraisal to Lower Property Taxes,” Nov. 15) was certainly most helpful to Los Angeles County property owners. But two other equally important points ought to be made:

1. Taxpayers should not abandon all hope if they did not appeal their current 1992-93 taxes before the Sept. 15 deadline. Revenue and Taxation Code Section 1603(b) does establish the Sept. 15 deadline. But the very next section, 1603(c), allows appeals to be filed within one year from the time the taxpayer receives notice of the assessment (presumably when the tax bill arrived) if the taxpayer and the assessor’s office stipulate that there is an error in the assessment.

In other words, if a taxpayer can convince the assessor’s office that it made a mistake, an appeal application can still be filed.

2. The obligation to make adjustments for declines in value rests primarily with the assessor’s office, which has the duty to lower assessments where declines have occurred. This was emphasized by the State Board of Equalization in a Sept. 25, 1992, letter to assessors in which the board stressed “the obligation for the assessor to inventory and process declines in value with the same diligence and resources expended on increases in values.”

We are all well aware of the diligence with which assessment increases due to changes in ownership and new construction are processed, not to mention the annual 2% increase allowed by Proposition 13. The board wants that same effort expended when property has gone down in value.

Although the assessor’s office will generally supply appeal applications, the best source is the appeals board itself: Hall of Administration, Room B-4, 500 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, Calif., 90012 or call (213) 974-1471.

ALEXANDER POPE

Los Angeles

Pope is a former Los Angeles County assessor.