FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 6,2001
Contact: Diane Thomas
(714) 834-6203
First Online Assessment
Appeal Services Offered
(Santa Ana) - For the
first time Orange County residents can challenge the assessed
value of their property online and, if successful, lower
their property tax. Property tax is the assessed value
of your property applied to the tax rate.
As of this week, the County will be the first in the state
to offer an interactive "Application For Changed
Assessment" through the Clerk of the Board's Web
site (http://www.ocgov.com/cob/).
The online application will be available throughout the
annual assessment filing period, July 2 - September 17.
"Offering this service is a dream come true,"
said Darlene Bloom, Clerk of the Board. "We hope
this new service will result in more error-free applications
and allow people the convenience of an application that
is just a click away."
The new application will include section-by-section help
and will not print until it is correctly completed. Forms
must be signed and submitted by mail or in-person to the
Clerk of the Board -Assessment Appeals Division. At present,
the County is working with the State Board of Equalization
to allow for online assessment appeal filing next year.
For people without Internet access, the 27 branches of
the Orange County Public Library system provide one free
hour of Internet access per day with a library card.
In addition to the new online application, the County
still offers a paper application through local libraries
or the Assessment Appeals Division. For assistance with
the appeal process, contact the Clerk of the Assessment
Appeals Board at (714) 834- 2331.
Legal