Calaveras County Tax Roll Rises by $500 Million

Calaveras County properties have gone up nearly $500 million in value compared to last year, county Assessor Grant Metzger said in a press release Monday.

The 2004 assessed property values total about $4.7 billion. This means more revenue for the county, Metzger said.

Proposition 13 sets the property tax rate at one percent of assessed property values, which equals $47 million. Of that, the county will receive 19.47 percent, about $9 million, a $900,000 increase from last year.

“The increased tax revenue couldn´t come at a better time for local government,” Metzger said. “(It) will help offset the cuts that are projected due to fiscal problems experienced by the state.”

The remainder of property tax revenue goes to schools, the City of Angels and other special districts such as the Calaveras County Water District. Schools take 60.4 percent of the total property tax revenue. Schools will receive an extra $3.1 million over last year. Schools´ large portion of the revenue has been an item of contention with the county.

For the work the county does in assessing property and collecting taxes, it gets less than 5 cents to the dollar.

Monday, Supervisor Merita Callaway alluded to the fact that the county pays for and does all the work and the schools reap the benefits. The property value increase “shows how well the county´s real estate economy is doing,” Leslie Davis, of the Assessor´s Office, said.

Realtors are overwhelmed with work. Houses are going on the market and selling, Davis said. More than 700 new dwellings were built in 2003.

“When you´ve got that kind of building going on, just about everybody is working to the maximum,” she added. “What the assessment roll does is quantify it in dollars and cents.”

For more information contact the Assessor´s Office at (209) 754-6356.

Calaveras Enterprise story by Vanessa Turner. For more Calaveras news, click:calaverasenterprise.com