Property values slip less

Written by Sean Janssen, The Union Democrat  August 02, 2012 01:19 pm
http://www.uniondemocrat.com/News/Local-News/Property-values-slip-less

The total value of assessed property in Calaveras  County continued to fall this
year, though at a slower rate than the year prior.

Figures released by County Assessor Leslie Davis  this week placed the gross
secured property tax roll at $5.46 billion in 2012, a  4.37 percent drop from
2011.

The drop is less than the 5.08 percent lost  between 2010 and 2011.
Assessor’s Office staff reviewed almost 33,500  parcels and 19,574 showed a
decline in value from 2011 to 2012.

Davis gave a conservative and rough prediction of  a 7 percent drop as county
department budgets were prepared in the spring,  advising special districts to
plan for a 10 percent decrease. She said similar  advice last year proved wise
as Copperopolis Fire Protection District came in  just a hair below 10 percent
in decreased values.

She said she has not yet calculated the drops  specific to each district but
will do so within this month. The hardest hit in  the initial years after the
housing bubble burst were western areas of the  county. Now eastern reaches of
the Highway 4 corridor are taking the biggest  lumps.

Comparisons have often been made between  Calaveras and neighboring foothill
counties of Tuolumne and Amador. Again this  year the drop in Calaveras outpaced
its neighbors, with a 2.17 percent drop in  Tuolumne and about 1.9 percent lost
in Amador.  The assessed value in Tuolumne County for 2012  stood at $5.9 billion for 2012,  according to figures from Assessor Ken Caetano.

Davis said she understands the temptation to look  at how Calaveras stacks up
against counties to its north and south. She cautions  that it should not be
viewed as a simple apples-to-apples comparison.

Neither county is as close in drive time to  Stockton or Modesto from the west
end and so Calaveras’ population of commuters  to the Central Valley is a unique
factor, Davis said.  “We also don’t have the same commercial base,  which kind of protects them a little bit,” she said.

County seats Sonora and Jackson serve as  geographic, population and commercial
centers that Calaveras lacks.

Davis said she hesitates to make any predictions  but notes the fall election
and an economy that either stabilizes or falters can  have an impact before
assessments of values on Jan. 1, 2013, are compiled for  next year.

“It would certainly be everybody’s hope that the  economy turns around,” she
said. “It’s really hard to tell what will happen  between now and then.”