Sonoma County considers waiving penalty for late property tax, but not until after April 10 deadline

With a key property tax deadline fast approaching and confirmed coronavirus cases continuing to rise, government officials across California find themselves caught between homeowners in an economic pinch and county budgets that heavily rely on local tax revenues

Erick Roeser, the Sonoma County tax collector, said he can waive delinquency penalties under the law but cannot push back the statutory deadline of April 10, deferring to Sacramento on any action to extend the period in which property owners can pay tax bills without hefty penalties.

“State law allows penalty waivers to be granted upon a finding that failure to make a timely payment is due to reasonable cause and circumstances beyond the taxpayer’s control, and occurred notwithstanding the exercise of ordinary care in the absence of willful neglect,” Roeser said Friday in an email. “Historically, this has been a strict test to meet and we are exploring legal options for granting waivers for this unique event.”

The California Revenue and Taxation Code imposes a 10% penalty on late payments of property tax, which was due starting Feb. 1 and will be delinquent after 5 p.m. next Friday.

Roeser’s office is still developing application materials and will publish information about how to apply for a tax penalty waiver “at the earliest opportunity,” he said. The written applications will be required for taxpayers who seek waivers, will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and won’t be accepted before April 11, he said.

The average payment is $3,175 among more than 182,000 residential and commercial parcels, Roeser said.

Any change to the deadline would require action from Sacramento, according to multiple government sources. But the Legislature that has suspended its session until at least April 13 because of the pandemic, and Gov. Gavin Newsom has not proposed pushing back the deadline.

Newsom’s office Friday referred to comments the governor made at a press conference Thursday, when he acknowledged speaking with the California State Association of Counties and alluded to ongoing conversations about the upcoming deadline.

“They have requested that we not impose upon them any mandate or dictate from on high unless we are prepared to backfill the impacts of that mandate,” Newsom said.

The governor acknowledged the conflict between counties who are anxious about their budgets and homeowners who can’t afford to make payments.

“We are assessing our options as it relates to property tax, and I deeply recognize that anxiety,” Newsom said.

“We’re seeing if there’s ways to soften this,” he said. “This is a conversation in real time.”

Property taxes make up the largest portion of Sonoma County government’s general revenue and amounted for about $259 million of roughly $1 billion the county received in operating revenues from July 2018 to June 2019, according to county financial data. Any delay to property tax payments could send shock waves through the county’s current and upcoming budgets, which turn over after June 30.

Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, noted “deep concern from local government” about the impact of a postponed deadline to core services funded by property tax revenue as well as local governments’ ability to pay back debt without the expected influx of revenue.

But, “there is no doubt that homeowners and millions of workers across the state and country are hurting right now,” he said, referring to the waiver program planned by Roeser as a more likely solution than state intervention to push back the deadline. “Essentially, not tacking on a penalty provides a homeowner or land owner additional time to pay their property tax bills.”

You can reach Staff Writer Will Schmitt at 707-521-5207 or will.schmitt@pressdemocrat.com.