I beleive tax in Property tax in SD is about 1-1.25%. The rest you are seeing is Mello Roos. It is not really built into you taxes, you just pay them at that level but only 1% goes to the city, the rest goes to the mello roos bond. YOu can write off the property tax but not the mello roos although it is estimated that about 90% of SD home owners writes it off

Why aren’t more people that are in deep doo doo ask the county and builders for Mello Roos relief.

oops sorry

The local governments will be hurting for money once property owners ask for reassessments en masse and the tax revenue growth dries up.

I hope those lazy-ass government workers who do nothing start feeling the pain of lay-offs. Let’s get back to the call for smaller government. What ever happened to the real fiscal conservatives?

Property owners and voters are taking their time flooding the county offices applying for reductions in their property taxes.It seems as if they all are waiting for some form of “bailout”. Forget about it!!!

“The local governments will be hurting for money once property owners ask for reassessments en masse and the tax revenue growth dries up.”

Yes they will be hurting for money… so they will do other things… don’t be delusional and think that the local government will not take other means to raise money. There are plenty of ways for the local government to get more money out of the population that they supposedly serve. Now instead of homeowners bearing the brunt, everyone will get to share.

SD Realtor

Farbet, I think your heart is in the right place but the practical aspects of what you mention need to be examined. First off, it is staggering how many people DONT know about getting their reassessments done to reduce the property taxes. Second, only those who purchased during say 03-05/06 will realize substantial reductions in county property taxes. Third, they have to get off their butts and do it. Fourth, if there is a family paying mello roos, that implies they bought a fairly newer home. If they could afford it in the first place, but cannot afford it now, they are in much deeper you know what then not being able to pay mello roos. Also mello roos does not vary with the value of the property, it is set by the number of homes in that particular mello roos district.

Anyways I understand your point but the reality of the situation will dictate that individual shortfalls due to MR or even property tax are dwarfed by the mortgage payment that the homeowner needs to choke through each month. So yeah these people are hoping for a bailout of the mortgage mess they got themselves into… Hopefully that will not happen.

SD Realtor