San Diego County property tax roll tops $600 billion

SAN DIEGO – San Diego County Assessor Ernest J. Dronenburg Jr. has certified and closed the 2020 assessed value roll of all taxable property with a record setting high value of $604.75 billon reflecting an increase of 5.18% or $29.78 billion over last year.

“The 2020 property tax roll reflects a robust real estate market as of the state mandated Jan. 1, 2020, valuation date,” Dronenburg said. “Properties impacted by COVID-19 will have their values reflected in the 2021 assessment roll per state law, however, my office is proactively working to provide relief to COVID-19 impacted taxpayers.”

The 2020 assessment roll comprised 1,004,808 real estate parcels, 56,689 business personal property accounts, 13,444 boats and 1,554 aircraft. The county’s net assessed value is $581.53 billion after deducting $23.22 billion from a record high reduction of property tax exemptions that saved over $230 million for homeowners, disabled veterans and charitable organizations.

“The 2020 property tax roll highlights the genius of Proposition 13 delivering on its two key promises that property owners can budget for their predictable limited property tax increases that make homeownership achievable, while delivering government a reliable and predictable revenue source for funding key services, like schools and first responders,” Dronenburg said. “Without Proposition 13 many homeowners and seniors on fixed incomes would have seen their property taxes double or triple within the last few years causing them to potentially lose their homes in order to pay their property taxes.

“Thanks to Proposition 13, no homeowner should lose their home to unaffordable property taxes and no government should lack funding as Prop. 13 has insulated them from the current coronavirus pandemic or the usual booms and busts of the capital markets,” he said.

The 2020 assessment roll reflected record property tax savings for taxpayers. The Taxpayer Advocate outreach program with the exemption teams qualified over 480,000 homeowners for over $36 million in savings from the Homeowners’ Exemption, saved 10,108 San Diego County 100% disabled veterans over $14,000,000 in property taxes using the Disabled Veterans’ Exemption and qualified over 5,000 welfare institutions such as schools, churches, museums and nonprofits for property tax relief savings of over $230 million.

Highlights from the 2020 Assessment Roll

San Diego County set a record high of over $600 billion in assessed value.

City of San Diego had the largest value increase, adding $14.2 billion.

National City realized the highest assessed value growth rate at 7.10%.

Poway saw the lowest growth rate at 4.33% for the second year in a row.

Assessor qualified a record high 10,108 San Diego County disabled veterans for the Disabled Veterans’ Exemption saving them over $14 million in property taxes.

Eighty-five percent of property owners receive the benefit of the Proposition 13 protective cap.

Proposition 13’s 2% inflationary increase produced an additional $10 billion in assessed value to help fund schools, libraries, parks and other public services.

There are over 1,000 fewer businesses paying business property taxes in 2020.

Dronenburg expressed special appreciation for his staff’s hard work and dedication to closing the 2020 assessment roll on time during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic changed the way the assessor’s office does business and, with little notice, staff transitioned to telecommuting while continuing to efficiently serve the public through online and telephone services.

“I applaud my extraordinary assessor staff for their extra efforts and fortitude while making sure we closed the tax roll as promised during this unprecedented challenging time,” Dronenburg said.

Assessed values are available to property owners online at http://www.sdarcc.com by clicking on the “2020 Notification of Taxable Value” link.

Property tax exemption applications are also available on the website under the “Forms” menu. Additionally, assessed values and property tax exemption information are available by calling the assessor’s office at 619-236-3771.

Submitted by San Diego County.