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- Written by: Editor
SACRAMENTO – The Board of Equalization has established unitary values of privately owned public utilities and railroads in California at $80.4 billion.
Local governments will collect an estimated $883.8 million in revenue (including penalties) over the next fiscal year based on these values.
Total values were up $3.5 billion over those adopted by the board last year and will generate approximately $41.3 million more in taxes for local governments than in the current fiscal year.
Values were set for 405 companies with property in California. They include telephone (long distance, local, and wireless), gas and electric companies, railroads and inter-county pipelines.
While most properties are assessed by county officials, privately-held public utilities are assessed by the BOE statewide. These properties are not subject to Proposition 13 and are reappraised annually at their market value.
A “unitary value” includes improvements, personal property, and land. A unitary valuation applies to properties owned or used by public utilities and railroads and considered necessary to their operation.
The BOE determines the fair market value as of January 1 of each year by considering market conditions, use of the property, income generated by the property, replacement costs, and investments in the property, regulatory climate, depreciation, and other factors.
The values set by the BOE are used by county governments to levy local property taxes, which help support county governments, cities, special districts, and schools. Penalties are assessed for late or incomplete filings or failure to file with the BOE.
The five-member California State Board of Equalization is a publicly elected tax board. The BOE collects more than $53 billion annually in taxes and fees supporting state and local government services. It hears business tax appeals, acts as the appellate body for franchise and personal income tax appeals, and serves a significant role in the assessment and administration of property taxes.
For more information visit www.boe.ca.gov/index.htm.
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- Written by: Editor
SACRAMENTO – State Board of Equalization Chair Betty T. Yee announced Tuesday that May sales tax allocations to local governments will be increased by roughly 3.7 percent, due to positive growth in statewide cash receipts during the first quarter of 2010.
An analysis of first quarter 2010 cash receipts show noticeable increases in taxable transactions in used car sales, department stores and gasoline retailers.
In light of these developments, the BOE has rescinded the decrease of 3.7 percent initially applied to the advances for the first quarter.
The BOE makes monthly allocations to 768 local jurisdictions based on a formula that includes historical allocations, growth factor adjustments to the base, fund transfers and audits.
According to a schedule of amounts due to jurisdictions, the city of Clearlake will receive $65,800 for public safety purposes and the city of Lakeport will receive $54,800 for transactions and use tax.
During economic uncertainty, cash receipts are reviewed to identify revenue shortfalls to determine if further adjustments are warranted.
Beginning in the fourth quarter of 2008, the BOE reduced advance payments to local taxing jurisdictions beyond adjustments based on the negative growth factors projected by the Department of Finance due to an unprecedented drop in taxable sales stemming from the recession.
Broad scale downward monthly advance adjustments were made in February, May, August and November of 2009.
In addition to the many local jurisdictions whose payments were reduced, some jurisdictions received no payments at all in those months. No secondary broad scale adjustments were necessary in February 2010 for fourth quarter 2009 payments.
The five-member California State Board of Equalization is a publicly elected tax board. The BOE collects more than $53 billion annually in taxes and fees supporting state and local government services. It hears business tax appeals, acts as the appellate body for franchise and personal income tax appeals, and serves a significant role in the assessment and administration of property taxes.
For more information on other taxes and fees in California, visit www.taxes.ca.gov.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY – Shop, Stay & Play, Lake County's “shop local” program and Web site, opened its "back door" to Lake County businesses this week.
Any Lake County business wishing to participate is asked to go to www.shopstayplay.com and sign up on the mailing list as a business owner.
They will then be sent an email with instructions on how to enter the site's back door to post their business profile, and how to "stock the shelves" with "outrageous deals" (heavily discounted items shoppers can purchase right from the Shop, Stay and Play Web site).
"We're very excited about the possibilities for this program to improve local business revenue," says Melissa Fulton, chief executive officer of the Lake County Chamber of Commerce. "We believe Shop, Stay & Play will be attractive to both our residents looking to save money and time by shopping locally; and to the Lake County visitor wanting to shop, stay and play in our beautiful county."
The Web site will be supported by intensive online and offline marketing campaigns designed to drive traffic to the website.
"We want to make sure businesses are successful with Shop, Stay & Play,” Fulton explained. “We're also going to provide a wide range of educational programs to instruct merchants on how to profitably use all the features on Shop, Stay & Play Web site."
Businesses who sign up for Shop, Stay & Play will be emailed a free e-book, "7 Steps to Creating a Kick-Butt Outrageous Deal" that will instruct them how to create deals that are not only alluring to customers, but also make financial sense to the business owner.
"At some point we will be charging for membership," continued Fulton, "but for now we're allowing any business in Lake County to sign up for our most expensive plan for free so they can get familiar with the site and see how it can work for them. It will also give us a chance to build the site's popularity, so our merchants will have more opportunities to attract shoppers to their online outrageous deals and their physical Lake County storefront."
The Shop, Stay & Play website will be open for business for shoppers in early June. An open house for Shop, Stay & Play will be held at the Chamber office, 875 Lakeport Blvd. at Vista Point in Lakeport on Thursday, June 10, at 6 p.m. Businesses wishing more information are invited to attend. Refreshments will be available.
Business participation on Shop, Stay & Play is open to any business (including home-based businesses) located within Lake County, Calif. You do not need to be a member of the Lake County Chamber of Commerce to join.
For more information, contact the Lake County Chamber of Commerce at 866-525-3767 or by email at
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- Written by: Editor
CLEARLAKE OAKS – The Clearlake Oaks-Glenhaven Business Association will hold its next monthly dinner on Thursday, May 27.
The dinner meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m.
At the monthly meetings the group discusses topics of interest to the community. Everyone is welcome.
Come enjoy appetizers, a salad bar and more.
The dinner selection for the May meeting is pork ribs or fish filet. The cost is $10.
Reservations are required; the reservation cutoff date is May 24.
To RSVP call Margaret Medeiros, the group president, at 707-998-9563.
The Live Oak Senior Center is located at 12502 Foothill Blvd., Clearlake Oaks.