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Prop 13 does apply today to all property owners in California. Current California Property Tax Law was enacted in 1978 to control the amount of property taxes paid by taxpayers. Prior to Current California Property Tax Law there was no limit on property taxes. The assessed value was based on the changing market value every year and because the market values increased significantly over time in California, the amount of property taxes increased significantly. As the values of the homes increased over time, older folks were being driven out of their homes unable to pay the property tax increases.

In California, there are essentially two triggers for re-assessment: transfer in ownership and construction. A change in ownership occurs when a deed or deeds are filed at the county Recorder’s Office, the Recorder will forward the deeds to the Office of the Assessor for assessment reasons. The Office of the Assessor will then evaluate the change in ownership to see if it is re-assessable. If it isn’tre-assessable then the process stops there, however if it is an assessable transfer it is forwarded to the appropriate staff to give or review a market value and adjust the base value accordingly. A change in ownership that would not be assessable would need to fall within one of the various exemptions allowed by the State such as a transfer into a revocable trust or an inter-spousal transfer which are all articulated in our Inherited Property and Exemptions Guide which is part of the California Little Black Book.

I applied with the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office early 2003, I was one of 900 applicants for 25 positions as a Real Estate Appraiser Trainee. I was one of the 25 chosen for the class they hired that year. As a trainee I went through an 18 month probation period and a 12 month training with them including classroom training, many exams, field training in all aspects of real estate appraisal, property tax law and the processes within the Assessor’s Office. If had I failed any one of my series of exams or gotten a bad performance review I would have been kicked out of the program.

When Proposition 13 passed in 1978, it extremely limited the capacity of local governments to use property taxes to construct public improvements and services. As a result, Californians had to find new methods to pay for public improvements in their communities such as streets, schools, parks, etc. The Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982 was implemented by the California legislature, the Act enabled Community Facilities Districts (CFD’s) to be established by local government agencies as a way of obtaining this crucial neighborhood funding.

This is a very simple question to answerbecause they are handling your property taxes!

If there is a mistake|an error in your building record or a value that is far above than what it should be, it is never intentional nor is it personal. Errors happengiven there is such a volume of work for them to complete and so many homes to assess! Simply remember the Assessor’s Office is a mass assessment organization and they do not necessarily have the time or the man power to ensure every single value is what it should be. All government organizations are overwhelmed with work and the Office of the Assessor is no different. So, cut them a little slack, they’re not out to get you.