The 2023 L.A. County Assessment Roll

Icome before you this month to let you know we are in the final stages of fulfilling our Constitutional mandate and probably the most significant item I do as your assessor: the Assessment Roll.

As I visited with you last year about this same time, some of you were scratching your head and wondering: What is the Assessment Roll? Others are more than familiar with the comprehensive tally that values more than 2.5 million real estate parcels in L.A. County that results in the very tax dollars that goes to pay for our vital public services, such as police, fire, schools and even libraries, to name just a few.

In the meantime, I have announced the May 15 forecast for the 2023 Assessment Roll to the Board of Supervisors that taxable property values are anticipated to increase approximately 5% over 2022, marking 13 years of continuous growth. Our fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30. Assessments are based on the value of property as of the lien date of January 1, 2023.

The May Forecast projects the anticipated growth rate for the annual Assessment Roll, which closes in early July. The forecast is an important tool for local governments as they prepare their annual budgets in anticipation of property tax revenues. The annual Assessment Roll is the inventory for all taxable property in the County and can provide insight into the state of the real estate market and the local economy.

As an example, the Assessment Roll last year grew by a record $122 billion, which is almost 7% in growth over the previous year’s Assessment Roll and is approximately $1.89 trillion in total net value. The total net value translated to nearly $19 billion in property tax dollars.

“The roll,” as it is known, contains the assessed value of all real estate and business personal property in the county’s 88 cities along with the unincorporated areas. It also breaks down the number of single-family residential homes, apartments and commercial-industrial parcels.

The 2022 roll was comprised of 2,589,521 real estate parcels and business assessments, including 1,889,000 single-family homes, 250,000 apartment complexes, 248,000 commercial and industrial properties and more than 165,000 business property assessments.

The roll also is driven in large measure by real property sales, and that added $69.6 billion to the Roll last year; the CPI adjustment mandated by Proposition 13 reached its full potential of 2%, adding an additional $34.2 billion; and new construction added another $6.3 billion.

I always like to remind the readers that although the roll grows in assessed value, that doesn’t necessarily correlate to an increase in the property tax bill. Most property owners last year only saw a 2% adjustment prescribed by Proposition 13.

All this exhaustive effort goes into the Assessment Roll because it is the very foundation of Los Angeles County’s property tax system. If the roll is not thorough and accurate, the county might not receive the necessary funding for the year and critical government services are left wanting. Others cannot do their job until we do ours.

The 2023 Assessment Roll will be released in early summer and, yes, you can expect it will still be affected by this past pandemic, even though the requirements are now lifted. The economy may be sluggish while it re-acquires its footing. We will know more as the details are finalized.

For more information about the Assessor’s Office and the many tax savings programs we offer, please visit our website at assessor.lacounty.gov.

Los Angeles County Assessor Jeff Prang has been in office since 2014. Upon taking office, Prang implemented sweeping reforms to ensure that the strictest ethical guidelines rooted in fairness, accuracy and integrity would be adhered to in his office, which is the largest office of its kind in the nation with 1,300 employees and provides the foundation for a property tax system that generates $17 billion annually.