Overlooked Oakland Property Exemptions Part I

By Len Raphael, CPA

By now every Oakland homeowner should have received their property tax bill. There are several items in small print to look at because they could save you from $95 to $410 each year.

The first is a county exemption.

Find the words “Homeowners Exemption” on the right side, middle of the bill, a few lines below the word LAND.

Next look to the right in the column “Full Valuation” to see if that space is blank or shows an amount. If it is blank, and you do not see a negative $95 in the tax column, then you were not given the homeowners exemption.

That often happens when people refi or change title (such as setting up a living trust.) The exemption saves you $95 each year.

This $95 exemption is only for owner occupants.

Easiest way to find out why you are not getting the exemption is to call the county at (510) 272-3770 ASAP.

(If you were one of the 25,000 homeowners who last month received a scary letter from the City of Oakland implying that you were not paying business tax to the city on rental income, it could have been because you don’t have a homeowner’s exemption.)

The second and third items are Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) Parcel Tax Exemptions for seniors and some just for low-income owner-occupants.

There are two OUSD parcel taxes, Measure G and Measure N.

The $195/year Measure G tax passed in 2008. Low-income owner-occupants of any age are entitled to a full exemption. The definition of low-income is the same used for Section 8 housing. Quite a few homeowners just getting by on social security, disability, reverse mortgages, or with help from family members would qualify. Two of my neighbors in Temescal qualify but didn’t know about the exemptions because OUSD only does the barest legal minimum of outreach. No postcards the way the County does for exemptions. No emails to local tax preparers or signs for senior centers. Just a few newspaper ads and a posting on the OUSD website.

The $120 Measure N tax was passed in 2014. There’s a full exemption for any owner-occupants over 65 as of June 30 and there’s a full exemption for low-income owner-occupants of any age.

OUSD not only failed to adequately publicize these two exemptions but until just this week imposed a rigid June 30 deadline to claim any rebate against the current tax bill. Seemingly OUSD felt it was too expensive to spend $45,000 on a mailing for parcel taxes that generate $30 Million/year.

After several residents complained this week, OUSD announced they will accept late filed Measure N $120 refund claim from seniors indefinitely.

OUSD has told me they will do the same for the late low-income $195 Measure G and the low-income $120 Measure N rebates for 2014/2015 claims even though they don’t mention it on their website.

To be fair, many local government agencies, cities, and counties including Oakland, are advised by their parcel tax consultants to do just what OUSD does: sugar coat the totally regressive burden of bond measures and parcel taxes by promising exemptions to those who need them but will overlook after election day. See http://abc7news.com/archive/8947029/ from Marin County in 2013.

What should you do if you’re a senior or low-income homeowner:

If you can’t use at least a $120 tax refund, do nothing.

If you’re ok with losing a refund for the current year, call OUSD (510) 879-8884 and ask them to put you on the list to get the form next year.

If you just want to accept OUSD’s extension offer on the 2015/16 rebate, go to , http://bit.ly/1HwZ7ba download the form, and send OUSD copies of the documents they request. Be sure to white-out all but the last four digits of your social security number. Or just call OUSD at (510) 879‐8884

If you agree with me that OUSD failed to adequately publicize the low income Measure G rebates and should accept valid claims for the $195/year low income rebate for the past 6 years, you should file the claims now for those past years and contact your OUSD board member. Asking your board member to:

1. Instruct OUSD staff to process the late rebate claims from low income homeowners for all past years.

2. Notify every homeowner, senior or low-income each year with a postcard.

To find your OUSD representative call (510) 879-8199. The information is online at http://mapgis.oaklandnet.com/ousd/

Len Raphael is an Oakland CPA, who also works on Oakland fiscal and police accountability issues.

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