Housing slump hits county's tax collections

<p>As the real estate boom withers, slumping home prices are causing a slowdown in property tax collections in Sonoma County and prompting more homeowners to seek lower bills through reassessments.</p><p>Although the value of taxable land grew to a record $67 billion in 2006, the annual increase of 7.9 percent was the smallest in nearly a decade.</p><p>Home prices tracked by Coldwell Banker for The Press Democrat have fallen for 12 consecutive months in year-over-year comparisons, the longest decline since the newspaper began monitoring home sales in 1990.</p><p>June's median resale price was $605,000.</p><p>For most of this decade, home prices climbed at a remarkable clip, doubling the assessed value of land in Sonoma County since 1999. Since then, annual increases in land value of 7 percent to 13 percent have been common.</p><p>But with sagging home resale prices and with fewer homes staying on the market longer, an increase in taxable land value this year will be in the range of 3.5 percent to 5 percent, County Administrator Bob Deis said.</p><p>"That will take us back to the mid-'90s," said Supervisor Tim Smith, noting a real estate slump back then produced minuscule increases in taxable land value.</p><p>More than 15,000 property owners had their property reassessed downward during Sonoma County's six-year real estate slump that came to an end in 1997.</p><p>Last year, about 300 homeowners requested reassessments, a number that county Assessor Bill Rousseau said he expects to rise this year.</p><p>The Assessor's Office has initiated its own reviews in some neighborhoods of Santa Rosa, Petaluma and Rohnert Park as comparable sales prices turn up in property transactions, he said.</p><p>"We are finding it is pretty spotty, and it is not widespread," Rousseau said. "We expect to be real busy when tax bills go out in the fall."</p><p>Unlike most other Bay Area counties, Sonoma County is primarily residential, which means declines in home prices affect property tax collections. That ultimately means schools, county services and fire departments would get less money if the taxable land value actually dips below the previous year.</p><p>Based on last year's tax assessments, that won't happen yet because the total value increased from about $62 billion to $67 billion. The $67 billion in taxable land translates into about $660 million in revenue, with about half going to school districts and the county general fund getting more than a quarter of it.</p><p>Assessed values on taxable property increased the most in Windsor at about 10.5 percent last year, while Rohnert Park experienced the smallest increase of about 5.3 percent.</p><p>Rousseau attributed Rohnert Park's decline to Agilent Technologies' abandonment of its large plant, which spurred a 31 percent decline in the city's commercial land value.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Bleys W. Rose at 521-5431 or bleys.rose@pressdemocrat.com.</p>