Property Value in County Rises 2.2%

Reflecting the still sluggish economy, the total assessed value of Ventura County property rose during the past year at the slowest rate since the Proposition 13 tax rollback of 1978, county officials said Wednesday.

The total assessed property value rose by only 2.21% to $42.6 billion from July 1, 1992, to today, acting County Assessor Glenn E. Gray said.

The rise in assessed value is the smallest since the 1978-79 fiscal year, when the county actually rolled back property values to their 1975-76 levels to comply with the voter-approved Proposition 13 tax revolt, he said.

Since Proposition 13, past annual increases have been as high as 17.18% in the 1981-82 fiscal year and 13.51% in 1990-91.

The relatively tiny increase in property values over the past year reflects the continuing recession, Gray said. “Because of the economy, real estate sales are down and values are down.”

The recession has slowed new construction and depressed the values of many existing houses and commercial buildings, reducing the county’s total assessed property value, Gray said.

Because so many houses are worth less now than when their owners purchased them, the county has reduced the assessed value of more than 49,000 properties, most of them residential, over the past three years.

Under Proposition 13, the county may boost the assessed values of properties only when the real estate changes hands.

When the real estate market is down, the county has fewer opportunities to increase assessments, even on properties that have increased in worth.

The trend of dropping property values in Ventura County appears to be continuing, Gray said. “It still looks like they’re going down.”

Property Values

The following are assessed property values in Ventura County’s 10 cities and Oak Park:

AREA 1993-94 ASSESSED VALUE CHANGE FROM 1992-93 Camarillo $3,898,786,888 +1.19% Fillmore $355,523,171 +2.93% Moorpark $1,723,043,065 -0.21% Oak Park $1,214,957,905 +3.09% Ojai $499,099,945 +2.59% Oxnard $5,987,583,471 +3.28% Port Hueneme $789,031,665 +2.19% Santa Paula $816,577,053 -0.22% Simi Valley $5,827,787,016 +1.43% Thousand Oaks $9,086,228,812 +2.71% Ventura $5,440,071,004 +2.32%

Source: Ventura County assessor’s office.