from sddt.com
Dan McAllister, county treasurer-tax collector isn’t sure if it’s a record, but with some $249 million in delinquent property taxes, he has more than a little work cut out for him.
The nearly quarter of a billion figure is out of $4.55 billion the county set out to collect last September. McAllister noted that while there has been about a 1 percent decline in the number of delinquencies from last year, the dollar amount climbed by about $12 million to the current $249 million.
“It is a small amount relative to the overall number, ($4.55 billion) but it is still a lot of money,” McAllister said. The treasurer-tax collector will now be sending 71,478 delinquent notices to San Diego County taxpayers who failed to pay either biannual installment of their property taxes.
When asked what he will do to collect, McAllister said late notices and calls will be made. “And we visit people,” McAllister said.
McAllister said delinquent payers are already subject to a 10 percent penalty. Taxpayers then have until Tuesday, June 30, 2009 to pay their property taxes or an additional penalty of 1.5 percent per month, or 18 percent per year, will be added to their tax bill. Active duty military must still pay their taxes, but are not subject to the late fees.
Property owners requesting a reassessment of their property are still required to pay the amount that was printed on their tax bill statement. If they are granted a lower assessment, a refund will be issued.
If the property owners continue to fail to pay their taxes, assessments and penalties continue to accrue for the next five years, after which time the property may be sold at a tax sale.
The types of property included range widely from land and homes to boats and aircraft, but McAllister said that more than 90 percent of the assets assessed are real property.
McAllister’s office boasts about a 96 percent successful collection rate, but he concedes this figure may well decline when an expected wave of foreclosures hits San Diego County around mid-summer. McAllister expects the market to improve after that, however.
“I remain optimistic. San Diego’s housing market has proven itself to be very resilient,” he said.
The realization that nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in property taxes are delinquent comes when San Diego County is in one of the rare times when there is a projected reduction in the total assessed valuation. It appears the projected assessed valuation for the fiscal year ended June 30 will be roughly $399 billion, off about $10 billion from $409.3 billion last year.
Some municipalities are faring worse than others. Chula Vista, which got hammered by foreclosures in places such as Otay Ranch and EastLake, is projected to post about a 7.34 percent decline in its assessed valuation. This will mark the second year in a row that Chula Vista experienced a downturn. Lemon Grove is projected to post an 8.97 percent decline and the city of San Diego is projected to see a 1.35 percent drop in its assessed valuation.
Some cities are bucking the devaluation trend, but these are in the expensive coastal areas of the county. Del Mar for example, is expected to have improved its overall assessed value by 4.55 percent by the end of the fiscal year in June. Coronado is expected to have climbed by 3.41 percent and Solana Beach’s assessed valuation is projected to go up by about 1.88 percent.
This year’s totals will continue to be tallied until the end of next month. Last year’s tally assessed 975,679 parcels, 159,183 businesses, 75,305 boats, 22,923 manufactured homes and 5,189 aircraft.
“I remain optimistic. San Diego’s housing market has proven itself to be very resilient,” he said.
Huh??? Am I missing something? I thought we were having a housing crisis, I had no idea the housing market was so “resilient”.
I think what he means is that the delinquency situation will improve because the majority of foreclosed homes will be bought by owners who will pay their taxes before the county has to seize and sell them for taxes.
Jim,
What’s the source of this information?
Free cheese for all home debtors!!!
Sorry, this article is from sddt.com
“Some cities are bucking the devaluation trend, but these are in the expensive coastal areas of the county. Del Mar for example, is expected to have improved its overall assessed value by 4.55 percent by the end of the fiscal year in June. Coronado is expected to have climbed by 3.41 percent and Solana Beach’s assessed valuation is projected to go up by about 1.88 percent.”
isnt that just great! took a look at the coronado 20 yr price history
pretty good stuff
some highlights:
median (high 900’s) is about the same as it was in 2005
average price in 2000- 550k
in 2002 – 650k
this will eventually get back to at least the 2002 levels – there is not any way around it. May take 2 years to do so but it will.
so despite the fact that its next to the ocean, lot of old money and plenty of people want to buy in areas like that –
It is just a mtter of time. All you need is about 10-15 high end reo in a place like that – and the snowball starts.
keep in mind the high end cascade is just getting under way.
The tax roll assessment is limimted by Prop 13, so the assessed value might keep going up for years until it meet the market price.
Say a house bought 20 years ago with sales price at $100,000, the house could have market price $800K (2005), $700K (2006), $600K(2007)….$400K(2009), the tax could still be valued at $200K. It will keep climbing for years to come, even when the house price is crashing…..
I know people who haven’t paid property taxes, and they could care less because they’re thinking of walking away from their mortgage. Think about why. If you don’t pay, all you get is a percent penalty tacked on to a magical number that you probably will never end up paying. If you foreclose, someone else will pay your bill for you. It’s extra free rent.
The worst possible thing that could happen to you is your house seriously appreciates and you end up keeping it. That’s it.
The moment property tax becomes a real tax you have to pay and not tied to your house, a lot more people will pay it.
In the opposite scenario Eric presented, if you bought during bubble times that can affect your tax basis for a very long time even if you get reassessed to lower it temporarily. The day your house value goes back up, your tax basis will go up freely regardless of the 2% prop 13 cap.
With property taxes almost 2 months of rent and for the life of the house, your tax basis matters. It cancels out most of your mortgage deduction at the start of your loan, and in a matter of years will actually surpass it as your principle/interest ratio changes.
“..taxes, assessments and penalties continue to accrue for the next five years, after which time the property may be sold at a tax sale.”
Wow! Here in Georgia, 30 days after you fail to pay your real estate taxes, the county can seize your property. And they do.
“The tax roll assessment is limimted by Prop 13, so the assessed value might keep going up for years until it meet the market price.”
I’m not sure how this is done in SD County, but during the last property bust I lowered my taxes in San Mateo County and they remained at the reduced rate until the property regained its original purchase price. No year-to-year increases were made. But that was a two-year drop, so maybe SM County just didn’t think it was worth the effort to do yearly increments when they thought things would come back fairly soon. It’ll be interesting to see what SD County does if it takes 20 years or more for bubble-priced houses to appreciate back to anywhere near their original purchase prices,
As I’ve said before, CA counties *seriously* need to start selling tax liens as they have the authority to do. With banks paying 2% on 3-yr CDs, offering a tax lien with a 12% return would cause an absolute DELUGE of money to come in. There would be NO PROBLEM getting that $4.55 billion into the county coffers.