Irvine Tops O.C. Assessed Values
Irvine is back on top of the list of Orange County cities ranked by assessed value, hitting $26.7 billion, according to the county’s latest assessment roll.
Property values in Irvine -- including land, aircraft and boats -- grew 7.4% over last year; values in Anaheim, which led the list last year, dropped 1.7%, to $25 billion. Previously, the highest property values were in Irvine.
The highest jump in value, however, was recorded by San Clemente, where property values grew 13.2% over last year, according to figures provided by Orange County Assessor Webster J. Guillory.
The numbers were particularly significant because, as a result of Proposition 13, California caps increases in assessed property values to 2% a year unless there is a sale or new construction.
Overall, property in Orange County had an assessed value of nearly $284 billion, up $18 billion from last year. Overall, the county’s assessment roll grew 6.8%.
In the last 10 years, the tax rolls have dropped only twice, Guillory said -- in 1994 and 1995. Before that, the roll had risen steadily for 40 years.
Much of San Clemente’s increase this year is due to new home sales in the Talega and Forester Ranch communities, said David Lund, the city’s director of public works and economic development. City residents also are taking advantage of lower interest rates to refinance and remodel their homes, which triggers reassessments.
“These two forces have triggered a tremendous amount of new development,” he said. “Property valuations are going through the roof.”
Laguna Beach and Yorba Linda also posted increases of greater than 10%.
New-home sales in the Vista del Verde planned community boosted Yorba Linda’s numbers, Assistant City Manager David A. Gruchow said.
However steep, the increases will yield only a modest rise in property tax revenue. San Clemente, for example, gets 11 cents for every dollar paid in property taxes; Yorba Linda gets 8%. And the tax money doesn’t cover the cost of services to the new areas, Gruchow said.
