Last night CTN ran an update on L.A. County Property Assessment for residences damaged by the Palisades Fire. Assessor Jeff Prang saw the story and wanted to offer some additional information and clarification.
“First, no tax bills have been issued – what was sent was a “Notice of Assessment Change” letting property owners know that we lowered their property assessment to reflect the damage. The Office of the Treasurer and Tax Collector will send corrected bills at a later date.
“Next, to address the confusion about the assessment numbers reported in the Notice:
“The Army Corps of Engineers evaluation of property damage is the foundation that we have been using for the reassessment of the property. They will report on their estimate of the percentage of damage to the property. For instance, 25% or 100%. If they give a range, we take the higher number. We are also adjusting land values by 20-30% to reflect damage.
“Assessments are based upon a fiscal year running from July 1 – June 30, so the Notice of Assessment Change reflects the fire damaged value from January 1 – June 30, 2025.
“The July 1, 2024 – January 6, 2025 portion of the assessment remains unchanged as it was prior to the fire.
“The property owner who brought the issue to CTN’s attention was correct – we lowered the assessment 50% even though the home was 100% destroyed because of how the fiscal year works for assessments. I hope this explanation helps – we recognize that this is very confusing, and we’re trying to get in front of this issue and explain it to property owners.”
Jeff Prang
Assessor, County of Los Angeles
(Editor’s note: The Assessor is extremely knowledgeable and has gone out of his way to be helpful. If a resident has additional questions please reach out to the office. Contacts are found on the website click here.)