Sutter County Municipal Code Ch. 120 Disaster Reassessment Relief

This chapter shall be known as the "Sutter County Disaster Reassessment Relief Code."

This chapter is adopted pursuant to Revenue and Taxation Code § 170.

The purpose of this chapter is to allow assessees of any taxable property in Sutter County or any person liable for the taxes thereon whose property was damaged or destroyed without his fault to apply for a reassessment of such property as provided herein.

To be eligible for reassessment, the damage or destruction to the property must have been caused by any of the following:

(1) A major misfortune or calamity, in an area or region subsequently proclaimed by the Governor to be in a state of disaster, if such property was damaged or destroyed by the major misfortune or calamity which caused the Governor to proclaim the area or region to be in a state of disaster. As used in this paragraph "damage" includes a diminution in the value of property as a result of restricted access to the property where such restricted access was caused by the major misfortune or calamity.

(2) A misfortune or calamity.

(3) A misfortune or calamity which, with respect to a possessory interest in land owned by the state or federal government has caused the permit or other right to enter upon the land to be suspended or restricted. As used in this paragraph, "misfortune or calamity" includes a drought condition such as existed in this state in 1976 and 1977.

In order to be eligible for reassessment, every assessee or person who suffers a misfortune or calamity that qualifies for relief under this chapter must deliver a written application to the Assessor requesting reassessment within 12 months of such misfortune or calamity showing the condition and value, if any, of the property immediately after the damage or destruction and the dollar amount of the damage.

(1) Upon receiving the proper application, the Assessor shall reappraise the property and determine separately the full cash value of land, improvements and personalty immediately before and after the damage or destruction. If the sum of the full cash values of the land, improvements and personalty before the damage or destruction exceeds the sum of the values after the damage by ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00) or more, the Assessor shall also separately determine the percentage reductions in value of land, improvements and personalty due to the damage or destruction. The Assessor shall reduce the values appearing on the assessment roll by the percentages of damage or destruction computed pursuant to this section, and the taxes due on the property shall be adjusted as provided in Section 120-090; provided, however, that the amount of the reduction shall not exceed the actual loss.

(2) In those cases where a written application is not made by the Assessee as provided by Section 120-050, and where the Assessor has discovered property which may qualify for relief under this ordinance, and the Assessor determines that the property has in fact suffered damage caused by misfortune or calamity, the Assessor shall provide the last known owner of the property with an application for reassessment. The property owner in order to be accorded relief under this chapter, must file the completed application within 60 days of the notification by the Assessor. Upon receipt of a properly completed, timely filed application, the property shall be reassessed in the same manner as required in this section.

(3) In lieu of the provisions of paragraph (2), if no application is made and the Assessor determines that within the preceding 12 months a property has suffered damage caused by misfortune or calamity, that may qualify the property owner for relief, the Assessor may reassess the property as provided in paragraph (1) of this section and notify the last known owner of the property of the reassessment.

The Assessor shall notify the applicant in writing of the amount of the proposed reassessment. The notice shall state that the applicant may appeal the proposed reassessment to the local board of equalization within six months of the date of mailing the notice.

(1) Any appeal requested by an applicant within six months of the mailing of the notice by the Assessor as provided for in Section 120-070 shall be heard by the local board of equalization who shall decide the matter as if the proposed reassessment had been entered on the roll as an assessment made outside the regular assessment period.

(2) The decision of the board regarding the damaged value of the property shall be final, provided that a decision of the local board of equalization regarding any reassessment made pursuant to this section shall create no presumption as regards the value of the affected property subsequent to the date of the damage.

(3) Those reassessed values resulting from reductions in full cash value of amounts, as determined above, shall be forwarded to the Auditor by the Assessor or the clerk of the local equalization board, as the case may be. The Auditor shall enter the reassessed values on the roll. After being entered on the roll, such reassessed values shall not be subject to review, except by a court of competent jurisdiction.

The tax rate fixed for property on the roll on which the property so reassessed appeared at the time of the misfortune or calamity, shall be applied to the amount of the reassessment as determined in accordance with this chapter and the Assessee shall be liable for: (1) a prorated portion of the taxes that would have been due on the property for the current fiscal year had the misfortune or calamity not occurred, such proration to be determined on the basis of the number of months in the current fiscal year prior to the misfortune or calamity; plus, (2) a proration of the tax due on the property as reassessed in its damaged or destroyed condition, such proration to be determined on the basis of the number of months in the fiscal year after the damage or destruction, including the month in which the damage was incurred. If the damage or destruction occurred after January 1 and before the beginning of the next fiscal year, the reassessment shall be utilized to determine the tax liability for the next fiscal year provided, however, if the property is fully restored during the next fiscal year, taxes due for that year shall be prorated based on the number of months in the year before and after the completion of restoration.

Any tax paid in excess of the total tax due shall be refunded to the taxpayer pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 5096) of Part 9 of the California Revenue and Taxation Code, as an erroneously collected tax or by order of the board of supervisors without the necessity of a claim being filed pursuant to Chapter 5.

The assessment of the property, in its damaged condition, as determined by this section, shall be reviewed at the lien date next following the date of the misfortune or calamity and shall be assessed in the same manner as prescribed by law for any other assessable property.

([819]Ord. 1326, Sec. 1; Feb. 26, 2002)