DATE: January 23, 2018
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Daniel C. Cederborg, County Counsel
SUBJECT: Amendments to Local Rules for Assessment Appeals Board
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Approve and adopt amendments to Local Rules for Assessment Appeals Board.
REPORT
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Should your Board not approve the recommended action, the current Local Rules of the Assessment Appeals Board would remain in effect.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in net County cost associated with the recommended action. The amendments to the Local Rules contain provisions intended to clarify and update the procedures for assessment appeals.
DISCUSSION:
The California Constitution (art. XIII, ? 16) provides that the Board of Supervisors "shall ... adopt rules of notice and procedures for [the assessment appeals board] as may be required to facilitate [its] work and to insure uniformity in the processing and decision of equalization petitions." The Assessment Appeals Board has approved these amendments to the Local Rules during its December 7, 2017 meeting and requests that your Board adopt them.
The bulk of the revisions are not substantive, but rather a re-organization of the rules to follow the process of an assessment appeal, from filing an application to final adjudication.
The substantive changes fall into the following four categories:
1. Pre-hearing conferences: Rule 8 was amended to expand on the procedures for a pre-hearing conference, and more importantly to add a special pre-hearing conference for 441(d) compliance issues. The current rules are silent regarding any procedure available to either the Assessor or Applicant to address an Applicant's non-compliance with the Assessor's request to examine information or records pursuant to Revenue and Taxation Code Section 441, subdivision (d). Therefore, Rule 8 now divides pre-hearing conferences in to two categories: general pre-hearing conferences and 441(d) compliance pre-heari...
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