Countywide : 2nd Tax Assessment Appeals Board OKd

Ventura County supervisors have agreed to form a second committee to hear property owners’ appeals for lower tax assessments.

Since property values in the county have dropped over the past few years, a record number of people have asked the assessor’s office to reduce the taxable value of their property, officials said Tuesday.

This year alone, nearly 2,500 people have requested a chance to take their case to the Assessment Appeals Board, which is headed by Supervisor John K. Flynn. Normally, the board hears between 700 and 800 cases a year, officials said.

Flynn said the present three-member board, which meets once a week, cannot handle the caseload.

“We have a record number of cases,” Flynn said. “This tells more about the economy than anything else.”

County Assessor R. J. (Jerry) Sanford added: “At the rate we were going, it would take three years to get through the backlog.”

Under the law, however, the second board will be unable to start work until October, Sanford said. The supervisors agreed to appoint two alternates to the existing board to help ease the backlog.