Downey's assessment roll grows by 2.5%

Photo by Pam Lane

DOWNEY – It’s that time again that my office undertakes its most important function of the fiscal year that lays the ground work for the very property taxes that pay for our vital public services: The Assessment Roll.

The roll for 2021 has been closed and it reflects growth for Downey and the rest of the county. However, the roll has COVID ramifications and I will explain that in a bit.

First off, let me say this comprehensive tally values more than 2.5 million real estate parcels in Los Angeles County and results in the very tax dollars that goes to pay for vital public services, such as healthcare, police, fire, schools, and even librarians, to name just a few. I am constitutionally mandated to close the roll by the end of the fiscal year on June 30.

I am pleased to announce that the 2021 Assessment Roll has a total net value of $1.76 trillion, indicating the 11th year of consecutive growth. The 2021 roll also grew by $62.9 billion (or 3.7%) over 2020. That value places $17 billion in the hands of the county to be used for those public services I just mentioned.

Locally, Downey for 2021 came in at $13.5 billion for taxable values, which is a 2.5% increase over last year’s numbers. That includes 19,992 single-family homes, 2,056 apartment complexes, 1,336 commercial-industrial parcels for a grand total of 23,384 taxable properties. Yes, it’s modest growth but still growth for Downey.

However, these figures have COVID implications and here’s how that works. Assessments are based on the value of property as of the lien date of January 1, 2021, which was well into the pandemic. While the overall value indicates growth, the total also reflects a reduction of $5.5 billion in business personal property, which includes machinery, equipment, boats and aircraft.

Having said that, we recognized the impact specifically on small businesses so we proactively reduced about 73,000 personal property assessments in the hardest-hit areas to offer some property tax relief.

Also air travel was severely restricted, resulting in reduced aircraft assessments. Additionally, daily commuting and other travel declined due to stay-at-home orders, resulting in reduced fuel demand, which in turn led to reduced fuel prices. Consequently, several major refineries saw a decrease in net cash flow and a commensurate reduction in fixture value.

Moreover, when COVID hit and we were all put under quarantine as required by the Safe At Home protocols, my force of nearly 1,300 employees went into a massive teleworking mode of operations. We had 85 to 95 percent of our workforce teleworking on any given day and the transition proved challenging.

Some basics: The roll, as it is known, contains the assessed value of all real estate and business personal property in the county’s 88 cities along with the unincorporated areas. It also breaks down the number of single-family residential homes, apartments and commercial-industrial parcels.

Jeff Prang is the Los Angeles County Assessor and has been in office since 2014.