Thousands of Bay Area homeowners qualify for property tax cuts. What about SLO County?
Thousands of Bay Area homeowners learned they will receive automatic property tax cuts, but people in San Luis Obispo County shouldn’t expect the same.
The reason: Unlike here, the Bay Area has experienced a decline in its property market value.
Under Proposition 13, California homes are typically reassessed when there’s a transfer of ownership or construction done to the property. Otherwise, Prop. 13 allows the assessed value to increase at a maximum of 2% a year.
When real estate retreats, Proposition 8 allows county assessors to temporarily reduce the assessed value if a home’s market value declines below its previously assessed level, so that homeowners aren’t paying excess taxes beyond what their home is currently worth.
The assessed value is an estimate of a home’s value for property taxes, so when it is adjusted down, homeowners save money on their annual taxes.
SLO County real estate market holding strong
In Alameda County, more than 8,000 new homeowners received automatic reductions — ranging from 5% and 10% — depending on the area where homes were purchased between January and October.
The total “assessment value reduced” was roughly $9 million, according to a statement from Alameda County Assessor Phong La. Reductions were also applied to roughly 2,300 manufactured homes and more than 100 commercial and industrial properties.
“After looking at the data, it was clear the right thing to do was provide proactive Proposition 8 assessment tax reductions to these impacted property owners,” he wrote.
However, San Luis Obispo County hasn’t experienced the same market conditions.
County Assessor Tom Bordonaro said the county’s housing market has stayed strong despite economic headwinds and has not experienced value declines large enough to allow for automatic reductions.
“The assessor has made proactive reductions in the past due to market downturns,” Bordonaro wrote in an email to The Tribune. “There have been no proactive reductions this year as the market evidence did not show the need.”
The passage of Proposition 19 — which allowed eligible homeowners to transfer their tax assessments anywhere within the state, and allowed tax assessments to be transferred to more expensive homes — along with the overall desirability of San Luis Obispo County have continued to prop up property values, Bordonaro said.
The assessed value for all property in SLO County reached a record high of $67 billion in 2022, a 6.8% increase over the previous year, according to the Assessor’s Office.
It’s an extension of a 10-year trend that has seen the total value of all taxable properties rise from $41 billion in 2013, a gain of nearly 40%.
How homeowners can request an assessment review
Although property values have continued to rise generally, homeowners can request assessment reviews if they think they’re number is too high.
To qualify for a temporary reduction under Proposition 8, the market value of a property must be less than the property’s Proposition 13 value as of Jan. 1.
If you disagree with the assessed value of your property or believe you should’ve received a reduction, the next step is to file a request through the assessor’s office for a free informal review by Dec. 31.
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