Sacramento County Assessor Office Report Card

Prices Trend Down

The chart to the left shows the dramatic fall in homes listed for sale. The fact that many who wish to sell cannot and so are hidden from the transactional analysis is seldom discussed. The fact of the matter is, the housing market is down and continues to fall, and the commercial market is in the process of following.  If you own commercial property and don’t believe this to be true simply go to the top of this page and click one of the property types such as apartments and look at the chart produced by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The numbers don’t lie.

As commercial property values fall it becomes increasingly important to protect the bottom line. We have many Sacramento County clients for whom we have saved  hundredths of  thousands of dollars.  Each year we will continue to save them money if values continue to fall. We are the most aggressive  Sacramento County property tax company and we fight to secure our clients the lowest possible value under the property tax law.

Sacramento County Property Tax Assessor

Many of our clients and Sacramento County  property owners believe the County Assessor will automatically reduce values if warranted. In some cases this happens. But not often and not in a sufficient quantity. The Sacramento County Assessor has a big job to do and overall does it well. Nevertheless there are countless opportunities to see a reduction in assessed value that our clients wish to have in order to protect the bottom line of their company. For our residential property owners it’s much the same. Money saved and not paid to the county is money earned. The Associates at California Property Tax can help you in this endeavor. But first, let’s take a look at the Sacramento County Assessor’s office.

The California State Board of Equalization is mandated by law to audit the office of the county assessor throughout the state of California to assure compliance with the property tax laws. And Sacramento County, the most recent audit produced some interesting results. They are presented here in excerpts from the actual report which can be read in its entirety by clicking here. We wish to point out that in no way are we attempting to slander the assessor’s office. We merely wish to point out that they have the ability to make mistakes, mistakes that can cost you money. We are experts at finding and correcting those mistakes whether they are errors in judgment or factual errors. Let’s look at the report.

In the area of change in ownership, the assessor’s website provides inaccurate information
about transfers of base year value by persons over age 55, and the assessor adds the value of
improvement bonds to sales prices of real property without developing the evidence required
to support the addition.
• The assessor has not enrolled all new decks and patios as new construction at their full cash
value; and he does not obtain copies of building permits from Sacramento County’s
Environmental Health Division.
• The assessor’s California Land Conservation Act (CLCA) program has several shortcomings:
(1) the assessor has not enrolled significant areas of taxable vineyards and nonliving
improvements; (2) he does not use market-derived expense rates when valuing CLCA
property; (3) he improperly classifies irrigation wells as unrestricted improvements on CLCA
property; (4) has not consistently established base year values for trees or vines; (5) he does
not treat restricted CLCA property as a separate appraisal unit; and (6) he inappropriately
issues supplemental assessments on restricted land when there is a change in ownership.
• The assessor has not correctly identified and enrolled parcels of taxable government-owned
land and has not completed the valuation of taxable government-owned properties for the
current roll.

The assessor should revise his possessory interest (PI) procedures in several areas: (1) he
inappropriately reapraises month-to-month tenancies at the airports, marinas, and other
public property as annual changes in ownership; (2) he has not followed rule 21 when
assessing possessory interests created by written agreements with a stated term of possession;
(3) he does not review all private uses at the fairgrounds that may qualify as PIs; and (4) he
incorrectly assesses the possessory interests of a private concessionaire who provide banking
services at a state university.
• The assessor does not send the Right-of-Way Property Statement (Form BOE-571-RW) to
pipeline owners, and he does not maintain pipeline right-of-way assessment records in
accordance with section 401.8.
• The assessor does not correctly determine the appraisal unit for mineral properties as
required by rule 469.

The assessor accepts business property statements that are not BOE-prescribed forms or that
lack a proper signature, and he does not consistently apply the penalty for late filed
statements.

• The assessor does not consistently identify and correctly classify taxable personal property in
apartment complexes, personal property owned by one-way paging companies, or pollution
control equipment financed by state bonds, and does not use Assessors’ Handbook Section
581, Equipment Index and Percent Good Factors, as intended.
• The assessor does not review significant differences found in business property statements
filed by leasing companies.
• In the area of vessel assessments, the assessor does not add a sales tax component to the
suggested values in published vessel value guides, and accepts unsigned vessel property
statements.
• The assessor’s manufactured home assessment program has several areas of weakness: (1) he
does not classify manufactured homes as personal property as required by section 5801; (2)
in one year, he enrolled escape assessments for a group of manufactured homes based on an
inappropriate edition of a published value guide; (3) he incorrectly issues supplemental
assessments for manufactured homes voluntarily converted to local property taxation; and
(4) he inappropriately adds sales tax to used manufactured home values derived from the
NADA appraisal guide when they are resold or voluntarily converted to local property
taxation.
• Some taxable animals have escaped assessment.

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To restate what we said earlier, we in no way want to have given the office of the assessor in Sacramento County. Overall they do a good job. But there are many, many properties that require constant attention. The Associates at California Property Tax have the time and attention to give to your property. We can ensure that the taxes you pay are the taxes you owe and not a penny more area. We work on a contingency basis, so we don’t get paid unless we perform. You can readily see our feet and our contract by clicking  Our Fee.  the deadline is coming in just a few short weeks. Contact us today.