Property tax relief deadline extended to June 1

SAN DIEGO COUNTY – David Butler, Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk, announced that property owners have until June 1 to submit their requests for an informal review of their properties’ assessed value.

Last year, the assessor received over 50,000 requests from taxpayers to have their property values reduced. This year, less than 3,200 new requests have been received. “The substantial decline in assessment review applications suggests we have identified and lowered most all properties where the market value has fallen below the properties’ factored base year value,” said Butler.

By extending the filing period from May 14 to June 1, property owners who believe their properties’ market value on January 1, 2010 is less than the value shown on their property tax bill, will have an additional two weeks to submit their requests for review.

Under the provisions of Proposition 8, once the assessor reduces the value due to market conditions, the properties’ value will be reviewed annually until the factored base year value established by Proposition 13 is fully restored (adjusted annually by no more than 2 percent). The property value may be fully restored or partially restored in any subsequent year, depending on the market value, but never to exceed the factored Proposition 13 value.

The Assessor is reviewing the value on over 198,000 properties as of the January 1, 2010 lien date, which previously received a temporary reduction in 2009. If your property was reduced last year, the assessor will automatically review it again this year.

Consequently, these property owners do not need to submit a request for review.

You may apply for this temporary reduction yourself, for free, directly with the assessor’s office. The application is available on the Web at http://www.sdarcc.com, or by phoning (858) 505-6262.

Property owners who apply for this temporary reduction will be notified of the results of their request no later than July. If they disagree with the value, a formal assessment appeal process is available. This application must be filed with the Clerk of the Assessment Appeals Board between July 2 and November 30.