LA County Projects Property Tax Collection to Rise

The Los Angeles County Assessors Office has projected a 1 percent increase next year in countywide property tax collection, which should mean a similar increase in property tax collection in Beverly Hills.

It is welcome news for the Beverly Hills Unified School District, which as a district gets much of its funding directly from local property tax collections. Most California school districts are funded based on a per-pupil basis.

“We received a very positive report from the County Assessors Office, which projects a 1 percent increase in 2011-12 assessed valuation (AV),” BHUSD Assistant Superintendent for Business Services Alex Cherniss said in an email last week to members of the district's Board of Education.

In a subsequent email comment to Patch, Cherniss noted, “There is not a direct correlation between the percent increase or decrease in AV and the percent increase/decrease in property tax revenue. [But]...it is fair to assume that an increase in AV could likely lead to an increase in property tax revenue for the BHUSD.”

In the letter received by the BHUSD superintendent’s office May 19, assessor John Noguez projected an increase of 0.99 percent for the 2011-12 Los Angeles County net local property tax roll.

The letter marks a positive turn in property tax collection trends. Just last month the district was told that local property tax collection for the current fiscal year—which ends June 30— to a projected $31.45 million.

The BHUSD had been budgeting a flat $31.4 million in property tax collection for the next three years; the district always plans three years ahead because it must file three-year budget projections with the Los Angeles County Office of Education. Last week’s letter may enable the BHUSD to raise its property tax estimate in the budget.

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