Property Taxes

A Sacramento County Superior Court judge Wednesday ruled against a group of California cities in their battle with the state over hundreds of millions of property tax dollars that used to flow to local redevelopment agencies. Judge Timothy M. Frawley said he would not grant the request from Glendale, Pasadena, Huntington Beach and other cities for an injunction that would have prevented the payout of property taxes on Friday to schools and counties. Cities believe some of the money belongs to them and should be used to pay for such projects as parks, affordable housing and freeway intersections that had been agreed upon before Gov. Jerry Brown won his battle to eliminate California's 400 municipal redevelopment agencies late last year.

The city of Adelanto had planned to spend $15 million on affordable housing. Artesia proposed to invest $2.3 million in downtown improvements. Atascadero budgeted $53 million for upgrades including a pedestrian bridge downtown and a better wall at the city zoo. These municipal projects and many more statewide are in question because of a dispute between cities and the state over what should become of hundreds of millions of dollars in property tax...

More bad news for embattled Assessor John Noguez: On Monday, authorities arrested a former county appraiser who'd told The Times that he had lowered assessments on numerous properties to try to spur contributions to Noguez's campaign. The arrest of Scott Schenter was the first made in connection with a corruption probe that L.A. County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley launched into the assessor's office last year. Cooley recently called on Noguez to resign "in light of everything that's come out publicly," so it's safe to assume that Schenter's arrest won't be the last word on the investigation.

A Los Angeles City Council committee came up with a plan Tuesday to avoid laying off more than 200 city workers at least until Jan. 1, thanks in part to a last-minute discovery of new tax revenues. By realizing an additional $5.8 million in higher than expected property taxes and trimming money from city departments and contracts with outside consultants, the council's Budget and Finance Committee was able to put on hold a plan by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to eliminate 669 positions, 209 of which are currently filled.

After complaints from Los Angeles County assessor's office employees worried that their boss may have extended improper tax breaks to prominent campaign contributors, state Assemblyman Mike Gatto decided to introduce a bill to curb such practices. So he was shocked when Assessor John Noguez - whose alleged misdeeds inspired the proposed reform - beat him to the punch with a news release declaring his enthusiastic support for the bill, before it had been posted on the Legislature's website.

Los Angeles County prosecutors are examining large property tax breaks extended to the owners of the Old Spaghetti Factory, the now-closed Hollywood landmark, as part of their influence-peddling investigation of Assessor John Noguez. Prosecutors are also looking at more than a hundred Westside properties whose owners got secret, improper tax reductions from a former assessor's office employee who said he broke the rules hoping to generate contributions to Noguez's campaign account.

Corruption allegations roiling the Los Angeles County assessor's office have reached a former Hollywood landmark: the Old Spaghetti Factory on Sunset Boulevard. Last summer, Ramin Salari, a property tax consultant and campaign fundraiser for county Assessor John Noguez, lobbied to reduce the shuttered restaurant's tax bill because, he said, the land it sat on wasn't worth the $14 million his clients had paid for it. He convinced Noguez's staff to assess the shuttered eatery, and four smaller parcels nearby, for $7.2 million.

A corruption probe into Los Angeles County Assessor John Noguez widened as investigators in two states served search warrants on a dozen locations, and new details emerged about Noguez's personal attention to the tax concerns of generous campaign contributors. As helicopters circled overhead, officials from the district attorney's office combed Noguez's Huntington Park home for several hours Wednesday, eventually carting away boxes of potential evidence. Noguez could not be reached for comment because he was in Mexico, said spokesman Louis Reyes.

The nearly $200,000 tax break that Los Angeles County Assessor John Noguez's staff extended to a generous campaign contributor is the only one of its kind in years, a county spokesman said. Prominent real estate executive Jordan Kaplan paid $21.5 million for a seven-bedroom Pacific Palisades mansion in August 2010. But nearly two years later, the assessor's office has still not taken the typically routine step of replacing the previous assessed value of the property, $11.5 million, with the new sales price.

Los Angeles County could receive almost $50 million less than expected in property taxes next year, according to the latest estimates, which could lead to cuts in law enforcement, education and other services. Last year, Assessor John Noguez estimated that the county property tax base would grow by almost $18.7 billion for the next fiscal year. But he revised that figure to $5.1 billion last week. Property in Los Angeles County was valued at $1.1 trillion last year. Taxes paid on that real estate is the county's largest source of locally generated revenue and helps fund a variety of services and agencies, including the Sheriff's Department, county education office and Fire Department.