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Marin County homeowners and small businesses directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic will have until May 5, 2021 to apply for extra time to pay their property taxes without a penalty.
Marin County’s 91,184 tax bills were mailed on Friday. The 2020-2021 tax roll amounted to $1.22 billion, up 5.73% over the previous year.
Normally, the property tax bills are payable in two installments. At least half of the amount owed is due Nov. 1 and must be paid before Dec. 10 to avoid a penalty. The remainder of the bill must be paid by April 10, 2021.
Due to an executive order issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom in March, homeowners and small businesses may be eligible for late penalty forgiveness if they meet certain conditions.
Taxpayers seeking an exemption from penalties must demonstrate to the tax collector that they have “suffered economic hardship and/or an inability to tender payment of taxes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, or any local, state or federal response to COVID-19” for the request to be approved.
Penalty cancellation requests must be submitted with tax payment, penalty payment, and interest by May 5, 2021. If the application is approved, the penalties and interest paid will be returned to the taxpayer. More information is atmarincounty.org/ tax billonline.
Parameters for the penalty cancellation program were set by Newsom’s order and since then guidelines have been provided by the state Controller’s Office.
“This is what we’ve enacted,” said Marin County Finance Director Roy Given. “So it’s very clear what we’re going to do this year; whereas last year it wasn’t real clear.”
Last spring, the Marin County Board of Supervisors provided Given with blanket authority to forgo the penalty if taxpayers could show the virus outbreak was the reason for their late payment. They acted after Given came under intense pressure fromthe public prior to the deadline to give taxpayers more time to pay.
The county received 1,762 requests for penalty waivers and granted all but two of them. In the process, it lost a little over $1 million in penalty fees.
Mimi Willard, founder of the Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers (COST), has questioned whether landlords who have been unable to collect rent due to eviction moratoriums have received sufficient consideration.
“It will take landlords many months to recoup the delayed rent, if indeed it is ever collected,” Willard wrote in an email. “But they stillmust pay the property taxes on time as well as mortgages.”
Under the current rules, owners of rental properties can apply for penalty waivers if they hold an active county business license and meet small business standards for average annual receipts or number of employees.
Property taxes accounted for nearly 36% of Marin County’s revenue in fiscal year 2019-20 and also helped fund local schools and special districts.
Marin County is more dependent on property tax than ever since state funding, which relies heavily on sales tax revenue, is threatened by COVID-19.
Budget managers told supervisors last week that the county is facing a $16 million budget shortfall in the fiscal year that begins in July and uncertainty regarding how it will continue to fund COVID-19 emergency response. The county approved a $619.8 million balanced budget in June.
This year’s 5.73% increase in the tax role is deceptive.
“What that 5.73% represents is the total tax increase,” Given said.
The total includes increased parcel taxes and bond payments that taxpayers include as part of their property tax. For example on March 3, Marin voters approved an annual tax of 10 cents per building square foot on properties, which amounts to about $210 per year for most property owners.
The money will fund a new Marin Wildfire Protection Authority. Given said the special assessment will generate about $20 million in new revenue in 2019-20.
“That is a big parcel tax,” he said. “It is a big piece of the growth this year.”
That money, however, can’t be used to finance the county’s budget or pay for COVID-19 relief.