Why didn the Assessor lower the value of my home to what the house next door sold for last week?
The law requires the Assessor to value your property as it existed at 12:01 am, January 1, the lien date, each year. Declines in value that occur after the January 1 lien date cannot legally be recognized until the following January 1 lien date. For example, say your property’s market value was $400,000 on January 1, 2008, $375,000 on May 30, 2008 and $350,000 by the time you receive your property tax bill in October 2008. The $400,000 value is the value the law requires we compare to your factored base year value when deciding which is lower as of January 1, 2008. The further decline in value, occurring after January 1, 2008, cannot be recognized until January 1, 2009.
