“Kern’s Property Valued At $90.3 Billion For Coming Fiscal Year”

Pursuant to legislation effective January 1, 2011, the Kern County Board of Supervisors, on May 3, 2011, approved the Assessor’s request to provide value notices to owners of real and personal property via the County website instead of mailing printed notices.

Property owners can review their value notices at http://assessor.co.kern.ca.us/propertysearch/index.php. The notice can be located by either parcel number or address.

Property owners without access to the County website can obtain a printed value notice by calling the Kern County Assessor’s office at 661-868-3485, or by writing or coming into the Assessor’s office located at 1115 Truxtun Avenue, 2nd floor, Bakersfield, CA 93301.

Kern County Assessor-Recorder, Jim Fitch, announced today that his office has determined the taxable value of Kern County property for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2012 at $90.3 billion. This total, for fiscal year 2012-2013, represents an increase of approximately $6.3 billion or an approximate 7.5% increase in assessed values. Typically, property tax revenues are one of the largest sources of revenue for counties, cities, special districts and schools, so this increase in the assessed values is especially good news for Kern County. While many economic indicators are still depressed, property tax assessments have increased in Kern County for the third straight year. The County's share of property tax dollars will be close to $360 million, an increase of approximately $24 million for all necessary County services.

Again, oil and gas assessments are up significantly. These properties increased in value by approximately $3.3 billion. This increase was primarily due to investments in new construction. Most of the county's oil and gas properties are at the Proposition 13 Base Year Value and taxes are paid on this base year value, even though the market value of these properties is much higher. Kern County remains the largest oil producing county in the State, with an estimated 70% of all of the State’s reserves.

Some agricultural properties will see an increase in their Williamson Act restricted values. These properties are valued based on the income capability of the property. Due to significant increases in rents and commodity prices, the Assessor is required to make these adjustments. Overall, the Williamson Act is still a good bargain for Kern County farmers. The average farmer’s restricted value is 35% less than their base year value, and well below the market value of their properties.

Wind energy property values increased for the second straight year, based on new investments in wind parks. These properties increased in value by close to $1.6 billion. We are anticipating further investments as several new projects are nearly complete and others are planned.

Mr. Fitch stated that his office has once again reviewed almost all residential properties in Kern County, approximately 200,000 properties. The law requires the Assessor to determine the lesser of the property's base year value or the market value as of January 1st of each year. The Assessor has reduced many of these property values every year since 2007. At this time, the Assessor has determined that the residential market has stabilized. Overall, there is no decrease in total assessed value for this property type. Individually, a few properties may see a decrease or an increase in their value. Since the start of the decline in residential values in 2007, our office has been very proactive in reducing the values of affected properties. Many of these homeowners are seeing a substantial reduction in their property taxes annually.

The Assessor renders opinions of value, either for the base value, or the market value of a property. In some cases higher value property owners may challenge our value determination. The Assessor must caution that these challenges may result in a lower value or they may result in a higher value through the appeal process.

Mr. Fitch urged property owners to contact his office if they feel their valuation is not reflective of market value for January 1, 2012. He added that his office is committed to ensuring all property owners pay no more in property taxes than what is prescribed by law. He also reminded homeowners it is not necessary to contract with or pay outside companies for a review and possible reduction of value as his office is very proactive in lowering these values when warranted.

Property owners can review their value notices at http://assessor.co.kern.ca.us/, and click on property search. The notice can be located by either parcel number or address.

Property owners without access to the County website can obtain a printed value notice by calling the Kern County Assessor’s office at 661-868-3485, or by writing or coming into the Assessor’s office located at 1115 Truxtun Avenue, 2nd floor, Bakersfield, CA 93301.

Mr. Fitch concluded by stating that he is proud of his staff for the diligent efforts they made to close this assessment roll timely in a year in which they processed another record-breaking amount of work.

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