HDL COREN & CONE (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

to assist the City in limiting its future direct assessment charges to the minimum allowable." In the 2020-21 tax year there were 557 properties that are owned by either the City of Santa Ana or the Community Redevelopment Agency. 106 of these parcels were levied a special assessment by the Orange County Sanitation District. According to the enabling Ordinance No. OCSD-49 adopted by this District; it is appropriate to charge government owners this levy. No other agencies levied any direct assessments on government owned properties identified n 2020-21. Whether or not the placement of the levy has been calculated correctly may be another issue. There were also 13 properties that were purchased by the City of Santa Ana in 2019 which had tax bills issued in 2019-20 to the former owners before the sale that may have been handled as a part of the escrow process. The City may have had these bills cancelled after the purchase or may have paid the balance due on the tax bills as part of the negotiated sale agreement. Many of the taxed 106 parcels include city -owned parks, city buildings and facilities that are using the sewer system and were probably approved at some point in the past to be connected to the sewerage system. Vacant properties are not taxed. However, there are currently levies being placed on unimproved property which may need to be reclassified as "Vacant" in the assessor's data. There is also supposed to be a fraction/percentage applied to government owned property but the contractor placing the levy appears to be charging 100% of the SFR rate instead of the percent outlined in the Ordinance. HdLCC feels there is certainly a potential for errors in the enrollment of the levies on the 106 parcels, but the potential recovery is not a large number in a single year. Ordinance No. OCSD-49 does have a provision for application and granting of refunds in accordance with RTC Sections 5096 and 5097 which provide for errors in calculation and collection of levies. There is a provision in Section 5097 for collection of levies paid in error if a claim is made within four (4) years of the payment charged in error. There is also provision in RTC Section 2635 that requires the tax collector to notify the taxpayer if the amount charged exceeds the amount due by more than $10. This task, if HdLCC is engaged to perform this review, will be provided on a time and materials basis. Whether the tax rolls are purchased, or staff review each of the taxed Page 125