HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 04071987 - 1.28 TO BOARD OF SUPIERVISORS
FROM: Phil Batchelor Contra
County Administrator
Costa
DATE: April 1, 1987 Count)/
SUBJECT:
Legislation: Senate Bill 399 (McCorquodale)
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(_S) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
RECOMMENDATION•
Adopt a position of support for SB 399 by Senator McCorquodale
which would authorize the County to recover from other taxing
agencies the legal and administrative costs of determining
property assessment values.
BACKGROUND:
Under current law, the County bears 100% of the cost of defending
or contesting the validity of individual assessments of property
in State and Federal courts and before the State Board of
Equalization. SB 399 would allow the County to recover these
costs from other jurisdictions which receive a share of the
property tax in proportion to the amount of property tax revenue
that is allocated to each of the other taxing jurisdictions.
Since other taxing jurisdictions receive about 730 of the
property tax, SB 399 would allow the County to recover 73% of its
legal and administrative costs of defending or contesting the
appropriateness of the assessment of ad valorem property taxes.
County Counsel notes that for the first half of the 1986-87
fiscal year (July 1--December 31, 1986) his office' s costs for
tax litigation were $40,124. This does not include the
administrative costs which may be incurred by other County
departments. If this level of costs were to continue for the
entire fiscal year, the County could reasonably expect to recover
upwards of $58,000 per year.
We would suggest that SB 399 be amended to clarify that the
County could withhold these costs from the distribution of
property taxes. Currently, SB 399 does not specify how the
County would recover its costs. Obviously, having to distribute
the proceeds of the property tax and then bill each taxing
jurisdiction is an administratively cumbersome process. It would
be far easier for the County to simply withhold these costs from
the property taxes which would otherwise be distributed to each
taxing jurisdiction.
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: _ YES SIGNATURE:
X RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE
X APPROVE OTHER
S 1 GNATURE 1 S 1:
ACTION OF BOARD ON Apri1. 7. 1987 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED -X- OTHER
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
1 HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE
UNANIMOUS (ABSENT Z- ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TARN
AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD
ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN.
CC: County Administrator ATTESTED A PR 7 1987
County Counsel D. J. Smith - ---
Jackson/Barish PHIL BATCHELOR, CLERK OF THE BOARD OF
County Auditor CSAC Director SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
County Assessor Senator McCorquodale
County Treasurer
BY ,DEPUTY
M382/7-83