County Assessor: ‘Solid Growth for Arcadia’ in 2020 Assessment Roll

ByJeff Prang, Los Angeles County Assessor

It’sthat time again that my office undertakes its most important function of thefiscal year that lays the ground work for the very property taxes that pay for ourvital public services: The Assessment Roll.

TheRoll for 2020 has been closed and it reflects solid growth for Arcadia and therest of the County. However, the Roll is pre-COVID and I will explain that in abit.

Firstoff, let me say this comprehensive tally values more than 2.5 million realestate parcels in Los Angeles County and results in the very tax dollars thatgoes to pay for vital public services, such as healthcare, police, fire,schools, and even librarians, to name just a few. I am constitutionallymandated to close the role by the end of the Fiscal Year on June 30.

Iam pleased to announce that the 2020 Assessment Roll has a total net value of $1.7trillion, indicating the 10th year of consecutive growth. That value places $17billion in the hands of the County to be used for those public services I justmentioned. This year the Roll has an added dynamic, however, the COVID-19pandemic.

Locally,Arcadia for 2020 came in at $18.3 billion for taxable values, which is a 4.4%increase over last year’s numbers. That includes 14,854 single-family homes, 809apartment complexes, 995 commercial-industrial parcels for a grand total of 16,658taxable properties. Growth is steady in Arcadia.

Moreimportantly, that $18.3 billion translates into about $183 million for vitalpublic services such as public safety, healthcare and public education thatbenefits Arcadia.

However,these figures are pre-COVID and here’s how that works. Assessments are based onthe value of property as of the lien date of Jan. 1, 2020, which was a coupleof months prior to the outbreak of COVID-19. Next year’s lien date of Jan. 1,2021, will tell a different story.

Weneed to be realistic and although we don’t know yet for sure how next year willlook, the pandemic has devastated the economy to levels only seen during theGreat Depression. The reduction in sales tax revenue, housing market slow downand high unemployment is going to most likely have an adverse effect on theeconomy

Moreover,when COVID hit and we were all put under quarantine as required by the Safer AtHome protocols, my force of nearly 1,400 employees went into a massiveteleworking mode of operations. We have 85 to 95 percent of our workforceteleworking on any given day and the transition has proved challenging.

Somebasics: The Roll, as it is known, contains the assessed value of all realestate and business personal property in the County’s 88 cities along with theunincorporated areas. It also breaks down the number of single-familyresidential homes, apartments and commercial-industrial parcels.

Thisyear’s Roll comprises 2.58 million real estate parcels as well as businessassessments countywide. That includes 1,882,121 single-family homes, 250,089apartment complexes, 247,562 commercial and industrial properties and more than205,000 business property assessments.

The2020 Roll also grew by $95.9 billion (or 5.97%) over 2019. In addition to thevalues of the County’s 2.38 million real estate parcels, this total amountreflects $87.91 billion in business personal property, which includes boats,machinery, equipment and aircraft.

Sincethe Roll is the inventory for all taxable property in the County, it canprovide some insight into the health of the real estate market. Although therewas a slowdown in sales, there was continued growth in property values. TheRoll is also driven in large measure by real property sales, which added $49.6billion to the Roll as compared with 2019; the CPI adjustment mandated by Prop.13, adding an additional $30.8 billion; and new construction added $13.4billion.

Finally,as we move forward during this critical period I hope everybody stays safe andheathy. This is a tumultuous time in our history. No question about that, butto repeat what has been said so many times before during emergencies thatdemand the best from us, this could be our finest hour.

LosAngeles County Assessor Jeff Prang has been in office since 2014. Upon takingoffice, Prang implemented sweeping reforms to ensure that the strictest ethicalguidelines rooted in fairness, accuracy and integrity would be adhered to inhis office, which is the largest office of its kind in the nation with 1,400employees and provides the foundation for a property tax system that generates$17 billion annually.

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