Assessor Delays Decision to Challenge Tax Ruling

Assessor Webster J. Guillory said Monday he will wait for further court action before deciding whether to appeal a ruling against Orange County’s property-tax assessment method.

A Superior Court judge in December said higher assessments on some properties violated Proposition 13, which limits such increases to 2% a year. Attorney Robert Pool brought the case after the assessment on his Seal Beach home rose 4% in one year. Pool is asking that the ruling be applied to every Orange County property owner whose assessments rose more than 2% a year since 1996. Judge John M. Watson will decide April 29 whether to expand the ruling.