With Tax Day approaching on April 15, it is often overlooked that property taxes are due on Nov. 1 and Feb. 1st. As the San Bernardino County Assessor, we work year around for homeowners and business owners to ensure that assessments are fair and accurate. However, a statewide ballot initiative that has qualified for the November 2020 ballot would drastically change how property taxes are assessed in California.

The California Schools and Local Community Funding Act would amend Proposition 13 to raise taxes on business properties by requiring reassessment every three years starting in 2021. This type of property tax is often referred to as a split roll tax because it splits the property tax roll by residential and business properties.

Currently, both types of properties fall under Proposition 13, which limits property taxes to no more than 1% of the assessed value and caps yearly increases at 2% per year. This provides homeowners and business owners with certainty that they can afford their property tax bills in the future and prevents extreme increases when property values rise quickly, like we are seeing now.

Proposition 13 has not only benefited homeowners and business owners, but it has also created a stable, reliable and growing source of income to protect our local schools and services from an economic downturn.

In fact, Board of Equalization data shows property tax revenues have grown from $5 billion in the year following Proposition 13’s approval (1978-79) to $66 billion in 2017-18, an average rate of 6.9%. This was faster than overall growth in the economy, which as measured by personal income grew 6.1% annually during the same period.

Unraveling Proposition 13’s protections for businesses through a split roll will make the economy susceptible to the drastic ups and downs of the real estate market. That means harsh budget cuts by local governments when the market plummets. It also means businesses, faced with higher property taxes, will be left with no choice but to pass on the tax to consumers by increasing prices on nearly everything they buy, from gasoline and groceries to clothes and diapers.

Even worse, small businesses will inevitably be hit the hardest, as many rent the property that they operate on and their leases require they pay the property tax bill. A split roll would increase the burden on small businesses, kill jobs and deter future growth. That’s the last thing our community needs.

But that’s not all.

The nonpartisan California Assessor’s Association recently released a study on the administrative and budgetary impacts of a split roll proposal. The results indicate that a split roll is a recipe for disaster — not just for taxpayers, but also for county assessors.

According to the study, “The cost to complete the annual assessment roll would increase between $380 million and $470 million annually, statewide, during the first five to ten years.”

This figure doesn’t even include the additional costs of training employees, upgrading technology and the additional cost burdens on downstream agencies to accommodate a split roll.

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Newsom should sign bill granting civilian oversight of sheriff’s departments After factoring in the latter, it is estimated that the statewide costs of implementing a split roll would range from $517 million to $639 million annually.

Implementing a split roll would be a logistical nightmare, as the study also found that as many as 900 new positions would be needed. Trained assessors are few and far between. We simply don’t have enough assessors available to even consider implementing a split roll.

Californians should protect Proposition 13 which has benefited homeowners and business owners for more than 40 years. This split roll initiative is seriously flawed and will only make California’s problems worse.

Bob Dutton is the San Bernardino County assessor-recorder-county clerk. He is a former California state senator and Assembly member.