County assessor releases 2016 assessment roll, reports 5.6 percent increase

SAN DIEGO – San Diego County Assessor Ernest Dronenburg announced June 30 that the 2016 assessed value of all taxable property has increased by 5.6 percent (or $25.4 billion) from last year.

The gross assessed value for the county as of Jan. 1 climbed to $483.1 billion. The county’s net assessed value after the deduction of property tax exemptions (charitable, homeowner’s, disabled veterans, etc.) is $463.6 billion. Based on Proposition 13’s statutory one percent tax rate, this will produce approximately $4.63 billion for schools, parks, libraries, law enforcement, and other public services.

The 2016 assessment roll consists of 989,089 real property parcels, 58,821 businesses, 12,933 boats, and 1,683 aircraft. “This is the fourth consecutive year that the County has experienced growth in the assessment roll,” said Dronenburg. “This is a testament to the strength of our local real estate market and a sign that our county continues to recover from the prior market downturn. For the third straight year, each of the county’s 18 cities experienced positive assessed value growth. The City of Imperial Beach realized the highest growth rate at +8.5 percent. The City of San Diego had the largest value increase, adding $12.5 billion.”

While the county’s total assessed value has increased 5.6 percent, the majority of property owners will only see an increase of 1.525 percent. This increase reflects the annual Proposition 13 inflation adjustment and was applied to over 763,000 parcels, or 77 percent of all parcels in the county.

Property owners may obtain their 2016 assessed values on the assessor’s website at http://www.sdarcc.com or by calling the Assessor’s office at (619) 236-3771. Proposition 13 requires that the Assessor’s office reassess real property to its market value upon a change of ownership or new construction.

Additionally, properties that have previously received a temporary assessed value reduction under Proposition 8 require an annual review of the value. Once reduced, the assessed value may be partially or fully restored to its current market value, or its original Proposition 13 base value plus the statutory annual inflation adjustment, whichever value is less. Assessed value restorations pursuant to Proposition 8 are not subject to the 2 percent increase limitation imposed by Proposition 13.

In order to create the 2016 Assessment Roll, the hardworking and dedicated staff of the Assessor’s office reviewed 150,000 recorded documents, reassessed 62,000 properties that changed ownership, enrolled 11,000 new construction values, canvassed 130,000 businesses, and processed 42,000 property statements. Assessor staff also reviewed over 130,000 Proposition 8 properties, partially restoring the values on 83,000 parcels, and fully restoring 11,000 parcels.

Property owners who disagree with their new assessed value may file an assessment appeal application between July 2 and Nov. 30, 2016. Application forms are available at http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/cob or by calling the Clerk’s office at (619) 531-5777.