Taxpayers fared well at local assessment appeals boards and boards of supervisors in 2008-09, winning 81.5 percent of appeals heard by the local bodies. According to a State Board of Equalization report issued January 29, taxpayers won 10,460 of the cases heard in this period, while the assessor was sustained in 2,356 appeals. Another 46 taxpayers may regret their decision to appeal, as they saw their assessments raised by some appeals boards.
As has been the pattern in the past, taxpayers did not fare as well when appeals were heard by the county board of supervisors, rather than an assessment appeals board. Some observers believe that supervisors are more interested in protecting revenue to fund their spending programs, than in equalizing assessments. In the counties where appeals are heard by supervisors, taxpayers won 54 percent of appeals heard (44 of 81).
In several large counties with appeals boards, assessors were able to defend their values very well. This includes Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone (sustained in 61 percent of appeals heard), Ventura County Assessor Dan Goodwin (sustained in 84 percent of appeals heard), San Luis Obispo County Assessor Tom Bordonaro (sustained in 76 percent of appeals heard) and Yolo County Assessor Joel Butler (sustained in two-thirds of appeals heard).
Taxpayers apparently were satisfied with assessments in Tulare County, where there were no appeals filed.
In two counties, there was a major delay in resolving appeals. In Los Angeles County, where taxpayers won 84 percent of appeals heard, there were 44,796 cases carried forward into the next fiscal year out of 69,670 appeals that were to be resolved in 2008-09. In San Diego, there were 42,879 appeals carried forward out of 52,273 to be resolved in the year. (Source: State Board of Equalization Report on Budgets, Workloads and Assessment Appeals Activities in California Assessors' Offices 2008-09, January 29.)
Cal-TaxReports, February 8, 2010
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