November 1, 2017
California Commentary
Trick Or Treat,
Your Property Tax Bill Is Here
Which is scarier, showing up in
your mailbox--Halloween movies
from Netflix or your property tax
bill? For homeowners, even
"The Exorcist" can't compare
in terms of pure fright as the
annual envelop from the tax
collector's office. Fortunately,
however, homeowners are still
able to count on Proposition 13
for protection.
While progressives in the
California Legislature continue to
target the struggling middle class
for ever higher taxes, they have
been unable to break Proposition
13. That landmark 1978 initiative
limits increases in a property's
assessed value to 2 percent
annually and provides most
property owners a good idea
what their tax bill will be even
before opening the envelope.
This predictability in taxation
allows homeowners to budget
for their taxes and provides
assurance against a sudden
increase that could result in
losing their home to the tax
collector. Whether you purchased
your property last week, or 30
years ago, Proposition 13 is
maintaining a reasonable limit on
annual hikes in your property tax.
Still, homeowners need to
examine their property tax bill
carefully because mistakes
can happen. Taxpayers should
understand the various charges
and make certain that they are
not being assessed for more than
they are legally obligated to pay.
The best way to check a tax bill is
to have your previous year's bill
handy for reference.
For most California counties,
the property tax bill will show
three categories of charges.
They are the General Tax Levy,
Voted Indebtedness and Direct
Assessments.
General Tax Levy
The General Tax Levy is what
most people think of when talking
about property taxes. It is based
on the assessed value of land,
improvements and fixtures. This
charge usually makes up the
largest part of the tax bill and it
is the amount that is limited by
Proposition 13.
Again, the best way to check
to make sure that your current
General Levy of Assessment is
correct is to compare it with the
previous year's bill. The increase
should be no more than 2
percent unless there have been
improvements to the property
like adding a room to a house
or if you previously received a
by Jon Coupal
Prop. 8 "reduction in value." This
bears repeating: Because the
real estate market in many parts
of California is recovering, many
homeowners who previously
received a temporary reduction
in "taxable value" from their
assessment may now see an
increase in their tax bill more than
2 percent from last year. But in
no case will the taxable value be
more than the initial Prop. 13 base
year plus 2 percent annually from
the date of purchase. Although
that may seem unfair, keep in
mind that while the reduction was
only temporary, the savings you
received when your property was
worth less are permanent.
If in doubt about the cUrrent
value of your property, check
sales of comparable homes in
your neighborhood. If homes
like yours are selling for less
than the valuation on your
latest bill, contact your county
assessor and ask that the value
and resulting tax be adjusted to
reflect true current value.
Voted Indebtedness
Voted Indebtedness charges
reflect the repayment cost of
bonds approved by the voters.
Local general obligation bonds
for libraries, parks, police and
fire facilities and other capital
improvements are repaid
exclusively by property owners.
Because a minority of the
population is required to pay
the entire amount, the California
Constitution of 1879 established
the two-thirds vote for approval
of these bonds. This assures a
strong community consensus
before obligating property
owners to repay debt for 20 or 30
years.
Until the year 2000, local
school bonds also required a
two-thirds vote but the passage of
Proposition 39 lowered the vote
to 55 percent. (Of course, this did
very little to improve schools as
was promised.) Because the 55
percent requirement guarantees
that most school bonds will
pass .regardless of merit, many
homeowners are seeing a
significant increase in the Voted
Indebtedness column on their
tax bills.
In somecounties, parcel taxes
may appear under this second
category of property exactions
even though parcel taxes are
rarely used to repay debt. Parcel
taxes are taxes on property
ownership but are not imposed
as a percentage of taxable value.
Although there is no upper limit
l. China
2. U.S.
3. Turkey
4. Poland
5. Italy
6. India
R.ED. by Mike Marland
Crossword
ACROSS 7--
1 Chevy ___
Equinox, e.g. 12
4 The enemy 1"5- --
8 Pharma-
ceutical T'8- --
12 Corroded
13 Wise one II
14 Simple 26 27
15 Guard of a
sort 31
17 Leading -- --
man? 34
18 Unlikely loser 3-7- --
19 Every crumb
21 Ulustrations II
22 Frank
45 46
26 Pamphlet
29 Peruke 5-5-----
30 Regret ___ ___
31 Kind of mark 53
or tag -- --
32 A welcome
sight?
33 Bouquet
holder
34 Guitar's
cousin
35 "Monkey suit"
36 Feelings,
informally
37 Old salt
39 Shell game
need
40 Affirmative
41 Yellow-flow-
ered herb
45 New Zealand-
er, informally
48 Etvis hit
50 Green land
51 Approx-
imately
52 Ostrich's
cousin
53 Rumble fac-
tion
54 Adolescent
55 Witness
DOWN 1 Cutting tools
2 Hexagonal
state
3 Kill a bill
4 Unisex gar-
ment
5 "1 -- Anyone
Till You"
6 Id counter-
part
7 Billion-dollar
10 11
24 25
II
43 44
seller 33 Article of food
8 Handed out 35 Placekicker's
hands pride
9 "Awesome, 36 Lillian of mail-
dude!" order fame
10 "Born in the 38 Losing power,
--" like a battery
11 Workout site 39 Obey a
16 Trainer comma
20 Journal 42 Mid-month
23 Colorless date
24 English river 43 Arrive
25 The Bee --44 Chills and
26 So fever
27 Croupier's45 Small barrel
tool 46 George's
28 On the briny brother
29 Candle 47 Be victorious
matter 49 Raw rock
32 Suspect's pic
DIFFICULTY TPI IS WEEK: • • •
© 2017 King Features Synd., Inc.
The Julian News 11
i.~:; 2
Spacious 1400 square foot, 2 bed, 2 bathPine
Hills country home has on-demand water heater,
large living room, knotty pine paneling, deck,
and garage/work shed on a 1.3 acre wooded
yard.
NOW
Offered at
$449, 000
NEW LISITNG!
3 bedroom,
2 bath,
1887 square foot
home on 8.62 acres!
Spectacular views!
OFFERE1-) A T
$425,000
Affordable Country Living in Historic- Jtdian
Mobile home located in the Gold Nugget Mobile Home
Park, right in the Julian Historical District. 2 bed/2
bath. Corner lot. Private yet convenient; just two blocks
off Main Street. Pets with requirements. Management
approval of new owner
xion of sale.
onthly lot fee not
in price.
$38,000
2625
3 master
The main house boasts authentic 1940s Julian lodge style
architecture complete with rock fire place, picture windows and
large kitchen. The 5.56 acres includes meadows & forest, a pond,
Gnome Home, Enchanted Cottage,
Tree House, Manzanita Cabin,
Grandma's Attic, Rock Chapel, a
fishing pond and spectacular views!
Formerly Shadow Mountain Ranch
Bed & Breakfast.
Offered at $1,150,000
fea-
tures 10 foot
ceilings, a fabulous gourmet kitchen with granite
countertops, eat-in dining area and a formal dining
room. The living room has cathedral ceilings and a
custom dual-faced rock fireplace that divides the
living room from the media room. Spectacular
views of the surrounding mountainsides.
NOW Offered at $639,000
to amount of parcel taxes you
have to pay (HJTA is working to
change that) the good news is
that under Proposition 13 they
still require a two-thirds vote.
Direct Assessments
The third type of levy one
finds on the typical property tax
bill is for direct assessments
for services related to property
such as street lighting, regional
sanitation, flood control, etc.
Because of Prop. 218 --the Right
to Vote on Taxes Act placed on
the ballot by the Howard Jarvis
Taxpayers Association in 1996 --
property owners must be given
continued on page 12
b weaver
BUT~TRUE
• It was German dramatist, poet, philosopher and statesman Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe who made the following sage observation: "Too
many parents make life hard for their children by trying, too zealously,
to make it easy for them."
• At one time in Ireland, a traditional Halloween activity was
predicting future romance. It was one of the few times of the year
when young men and women could mingle, and fortune-telling games
to predict who they would marry were popular.
• Those who are experiencing money-related relationship issues
might be interested to note the results of a survey conducted by TD
Ameritrade. When asked who manages the household budget, 87
percent of women said they did, while 81 percent of men claimed that
by Linda Thistle
1 4
8 7 3
1 2 8
7 9 3 8
9 6 1
6 4
4 8 7
6 9
3 4
Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way
that each row across, each column down and
each small 9-box square contains all of the
numbers from one to nine.
O Moderate OO Challenging
• • HOO BOY!
responsibility.
• Until Alfred Hitchcock's
iconic psychological horror film
"Psycho" premiered in 1960, no
American film had ever shown a
toilet being flushed.
• Buick is one of the oldest
automobile brands in the world,
so you might •expect that the
company's founder did pretty
well for himself. Unfortunately
for David Dunbar Buick, who
incorporated the company in
1903, that wasn't the case. In
less than a year, the company
was sold. Buick stayed on as a
manager and worked on engine
development, but only for two
more years. When he left his
namesake company in 1906, he
sold his one remaining share of
Buick for $100,000. That was
a rather hefty sum at the time,
but he lost it all in a series of
unsuccessful ventures. At the
time of his death in early 1929,
he was virtually penniless.
• It's been reported that a
shaved guinea pig bears a
remarkable resemblance to a
tiny hippopotamus.
Thought for the Day:
"Absolute faith corrupts as
absolutely as absolute power."
-- Eric Hoffer
® 2017 King Features Syndicate, Inc.
The bathtub was invented in 1850
and the telephone in 1875. In other
words, if you had been living in
1850, you could have sat in the
bathtub for 25 years without having
to answer the phone.
-- Bill DeWitt
© 2017 King Features Synd., Inc.
APPLE
;ERS
Weekly SUDOKU
Answer
8 L L 9 g 6 £ £
6 £ £ L 9 Z 8
£ 9 L 6 8 S L g
£ 6 !. Z 17 £ 9 9
L L £ 9 g 9 £ 6
9 t;' 9 £ £ 6 L g L
8 £ 9 i; 6 £ 17 L L
L £ ~ t7 £ /_ 9 9 6
6 L t' 9 L 9 g 8 £
® 2017 King Features Syndicate, Inc.
As a man grows older it & harder
and harder to frighten him.
-- Jean Paul Richter
