NR# 54-A
Date: October 22, 2001
Customer and Taxpayer Services Division

The Board of Equalization (BOE) today released an assessment practices survey report on Mono County, announced Dean Andal, Member, BOE.

Once every five years, the BOE conducts a review of each county's property tax assessment functions to determine whether properties are being assessed properly and to identify areas where improvements should be made. Issued as an "Assessment Practices Survey," the report provides an overview of how the assessor performs his duties and includes recommendations to correct assessment deficiencies and improve compliance with state law.

The BOE found that most properties in Mono County are being assessed properly, and the overall quality of the assessment roll meets the minimum standards required by the state to qualify for augmentation funds. It also complimented the assessor on the timeliness and quality of his business audit program. However, the report provides 18 recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the assessor's operations. They include:

• Exempt low-valued real property in accordance with the requirements of the county's low-value resolution. The county board of supervisors exempted all properties valued at $2,000 or less, but the assessor has ignored this exemption for most real property.
• Review all timeshare projects for declines in value. The assessor lowered the values for timeshare owners who requested appraisal reviews, but did not change the values for identical timeshares.
• Classify ski lifts, tows, and trams as fixtures. Incorrect classification of these items as structures instead of fixtures is likely to lead to over assessments.

The review focused on the quality of the 2000-2001 Mono County assessment roll, which contained 16,791 assessments having a total enrolled value of $2.2 billion.

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Note: A copy of the Mono County Assessment Practices Survey Report is available upon request.