Mendocino Real Estate Tax Ripoff

 We have mountain property in Mendocino County California. Recent legalization of cannabis and the way Mendocino County managed it caused property values to plummet where we live. Out property that was "worth" almost one million dollars about 10 years ago is now worth $300,000 if we can get it.

Mendocino county is trying everything they can do to rip off tax payers because tax payment have gone down and they are trying to get money any way they can.

When we bought out our co-owner of the property it was reassessed (half) which was allowed under "prop 13" guidelines. We were prepared for this but the property value has dropped not increased.

The assessor appraised out property with no reference to "comps" that would have reflected the decreased value. They just made up a number out of the blue.

If we are going to apply for a lowered assessment we need to provide comps (i think they want three in tea past three months) but there are no comps. However the worst thing is what Mendocino did in order to prevent lowered assessments.

Appraised valuation and actual market value have always been two different numbers. There is a ratio that is applied by the assessor to the market value to get the assessed valuation on which taxes are based. In Mendocino county taxes are 1 percent per year of assessed valuation plus add ons for voter approved bonds. Prop 13 allows for 1% per year tax increase. When property is sold all bets are off but the assessment ratio should still apply. 

I can go to a lot of effort to determine what the assessment ratio has been for the last 20 years but this will involve a lot of research, getting comps for each tax period and calculating the ratios.

I know for a fact that the ratio was never 100%. Our assessed valuation was something like $200,000 when the market value was close to $1,000,000 These are not actual figures, I need to do a lot of research to provide true values. However I do know that the ratio was never 100% Even after reassessment our appraised value is less than the paltry market value.

In order to apply for a reduction in taxes we need to get recent comps and they need to be lower than our assessed valuation in order to change the tax base. This is because Mendocino has decided that the assessment ratio is 100%  This is total bullshit, it is their way to make tax reduction impossible just by lying about what the ratio actually is. 

Really clever, I think it is time for a taxpayer's revolt.