Fresno County asks Gov. Newsom to waive late property tax fees, amid coronavirus pandemic

The Fresno County Board of Supervisors sent a letter Tuesday asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to waive late fees on late property tax payments, which were due on Friday.

Fresno County officials have said they don’t have the power to delay property taxes nor can they cancel fines – even during the new coronavirus pandemic – without help from state leaders. At the moment, Fresno County residents are unable to apply for fee waivers related to the coronavirus.

Many businesses throughout Fresno County and around the state have been ordered to close during the coronavirus pandemic because they were deemed nonessential.

“We had a lot of outpouring for our community for us to do something about property taxes, and especially the fines,” Supervisor Steve Brandau said.

“We’re sending a letter to Sacramento to the elected officials there to please consider removing some obstacles to allow us to be more effective and helpful to our community,” he said.

Some 1 million people in California are newly unemployed, and many others have had their hours reduced.

Counties around the state are treating property taxes differently as it relates to COVID-19, the respiratory illness cause by the coronavirus. Places like Fresno and Yuba counties have said they have no control over when taxes are due or late fees are assessed.

On the other hand, officials in Orange and Los Angeles counties are allowing residents to ask for fee waivers if they’ve been hurt financially by the response to the virus.

“This isn’t the time to squeeze people ... this is a time for us to be understanding and appreciative of circumstances,” Los Angeles County Treasurer-Tax Collector Keith Knox told the Los Angeles Times. “There could be a lot of factors tied to employment besides losing your job because the restaurant closed.”

The state Franchise Tax Board and the IRS pushed back the April 15 due date for income taxes to July 15.