Property tax bills that Ventura County will mail next month will reflect a $74-million increase after an unprecedented run-up in home prices prompted what is believed to be the largest growth in values in county history.
Home and business owners will be required to pay about $879 million in 2004-05, a 9.2% increase from last year, said county Treasurer-Tax Collector Lawrence Matheney.
The bulk of that increase comes from the adjusted value of about 17,000 dwellings that were sold in 2003. Unless a home is sold, its assessed value can be increased only 2% annually. But when ownership changes, it is taxed at full market value, which is often double its assessed value or more.
"It feels good to be the one bright spot in a bleak financial picture," Matheney said. "It's safe to say this is the largest increase in memory. And in real dollars there probably has never been a greater increase."
While new homeowners may be dismayed by their large tax obligation, spiraling taxes are good news for local cities, special districts and the county government, which together share about 45 cents of each property tax dollar.
The county -- which provides a variety of health, transportation and social services -- will receive an extra $13 million because of the increase. But the windfall had been anticipated and will do nothing to restore 125 jobs cut earlier this year, officials said.
"It helps, but our projected expenses are well beyond our increase in revenues," county budget analyst Paul Derse said. "It's an expenditure issue, not a revenue issue. The revenues were pretty strong."
But salary and retirement benefits for about 7,200 employees have put the county in a hole, he said. For example, the county's employee retirement obligation increased from $23 million last year to $50 million this year, he said, because pension fund investments in the stock market have brought returns far below projections.
School districts, which receive the other 55 cents of each property tax dollar, would seem to gain the most but don't. That's because state laws equalize funding among schools throughout California.
"We have equal, inadequate funding throughout the state," said Charles Weis, county superintendent of schools. "The increased property tax has no effect here because the state reduces its contribution to us by the amount that's given locally."
