Streamlining of Assessments in O.C. Endorsed

With the county assessor’s office besieged by a backlog of 25,000 petitions for lower property taxes, the county Board of Supervisors moved Tuesday to hire more staff, streamline assessment procedures and speed up tax appeals.

The supervisors voted unanimously to endorse the reforms, spurred by homeowners clamoring for tax relief as their home values have fallen.

“Our hope is that these measures would speed up the process for the homeowner and ensure that we can fulfill our responsibility to the residents who want their properties assessed at market value,” Supervisor William G. Steiner said. “I’m optimistic that these tactics will be effective.”

At the current pace, it would take three years to process the 60,000 appeals now awaiting review by Orange County Assessor Bradley L. Jacobs’ office, Steiner said.

Of those 60,000, 25,000 appeal applications held over from last year constitute a formidable backlog. The remaining 35,000 were filed by the Sept. 15 deadline for this year.

The tangle of paperwork and delays has drawn heated criticism from residents, many irate that their annual property assessment has each year automatically increased by 2%--as allowed by law--even as property values have declined.

Other counties, such as Los Angeles and Ventura, have chosen to enact wholesale reductions of property assessments in entire areas where property values have fallen, sparing homeowners the need for appeals hearings. In some cases, counties actively solicit requests for reductions, but Jacobs has chosen not to do that.

In San Diego County, which is similar in size to Orange County, officials report that residents receive nearly immediate responses on their appeal requests.

The logjam here, however, is not a result of the case-by-case approach, Jacobs has said. Jacobs could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

But Kathy Goodno, who headed a county committee that examined the appeals logjam, said the backlog was not caused by shoddy or slow work by the assessor’s staff.

“They are not doing anything wrong. They’re not being ineffective or exercising bad judgment,” Goodno said. “They’re doing the best they can with what they have. But the economic climate has changed.

“Everything has changed because of the market,” she said. “It is clearly a market-driven process.”

The supervisors directed Goodno, Jacobs and other county officials to review the strategies--which include spending as much as $250,000 to augment the assessor’s work force--and return in November with a final plan.

Goodno said some of the measures would make an immediate dent in the workload.

Scheduling “more hearings, for instance--that can happen right away and step up the pace,” Goodno said.

Jacobs, an independently elected official, does not answer directly to the supervisors. Goodno’s report showed that appeals take an average of 16 to 18 months. Last year, 13,751 appeals were filed; during the first six months of this year, 16,667 more were filed.

Besides streamlining the overall system, Steiner said simplifying the procedures for citizens would help relieve the backlog.

“A lot of people think the appeal process is lengthy and confusing, and, in fact, 37% of the appeals were withdrawn or represented no-shows,” Steiner said. “That’s not delivering the service we’re committed to deliver.”

Goodno said her group will continue to explore the best and most cost-effective remedies. The supervisors would then review the financial aspects of the committee’s recommendations and Jacobs would have final say on changes to his agency.

The recommendations endorsed Tuesday include:

* Revising and simplifying information about appeals that is sent to the public. One recommendation suggested including an “at-a-glance” fact sheet about deadlines and filing procedures in appeals packages mailed to homeowners.

* More use of hearing officers, who can settle appeals before they reach the full hearing stage. The hearing officers, Goodno said, are the “front end of the system” and could handle appeals early in the process.

* Add staff, or increase the number of working hours, for employees in the assessor’s office, by spending as much as $250,000. However, the exact amount that may be needed to reduce the backlog “has not been completely examined,” the report noted.

Goodno said the money could be spent on temporary help or to expand overtime among existing staff. “They aren’t going to be hiring permanent staff,” she said.

* The supervisors directed Phyllis A. Henderson, clerk of the Board of Supervisors, who administers the assessment appeals hearing process, to schedule more Assessment Appeals Board meetings each week.