Higher than expected property taxes means L.A. County has more ...

The recovery in the real estate market is expected to provide a windfall for Los Angeles County in the form of higher-than-expected property tax collections.

The added cash might allow the county to ramp up critical services, such as sheriff's patrols, that were scaled back during the recession.

The county Assessor's Office projected the 2013 Assessment Roll - an inventory of all taxable property as of the beginning of the year - would go up 4.23 percent.

That's quite an improvement from 2007-2010, when home sales and property values tanked, causing the roll to shrink.

The roll grew in 2011 and 2012, but very modestly.

Chief Deputy Assessor Santos Kreimann explained the increase was "primarily driven by strength in the residential real estate market."

County spokesman David Sommers said the budget for the fiscal year that starts this July anticipated only a 2.88 percent growth in the roll.

"What 2.88 percent allowed us to do was simply have our first budget in several years where we weren't looking at deficits or cutbacks," he said.

"Any additional revenue allows us to look at restoring things that were cut, and addressing needs on a case-by-case basis," he added.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky estimated the growth in the roll would increase the county's general fund budget by $50 million.

"Being on

the plus side of $50 million is better than being on the minus side of $50 million, but the county has cut back more than $50 million - many times more - over the last four or five years," he said. "The board is going to have to decide how to spend that money, if it decides to spend it at all."

Sommers said local revenues, such as property taxes, help the county cover some of the expenses related to public safety, as well as parks, beaches, museums and other quality of life programs.

Kris Vosburgh, executive director of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, clarified the higher roll does not mean people are paying higher taxes.

"Under Prop 13, the assessed value can be increased a maximum of 2 percent a year," he said. "The roll went up because the economy is improving, and we have new construction and improvements to new property."

In the past year, scandal has rocked the Assessor's Office after Assessor John Noguez was accused of accepting bribes in exchange for lowering property taxes.

With Kreimann now in charge, Sommers said the county's budget managers have "much greater confidence that their projection is a solid reflection of things slowly starting to turn around and grow, in the local economy."

christina.villacorte@dailynews.com

twitter.com/LADNvillacorte

Source: http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_23320237/higher-than-expected-property-taxes-means-county-has

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