Property Tax Report for Lake Forest

The cities just received their property roll value reports for 2018-19, covering the previous year and effective January 1, 2018. Here are some highlights

· The average increase for OC as a whole was 6.23%

· The average increase for incorporated areas was 6.29%

· The increase for Lake Forest was 9.29%, making us the second highest on a percentage basis (Irvine was slightly higher with 9.43%)

· The value of our secured (homes) properties was $15,195,504,496 and our unsecured (business, personal, boats, aircraft) properties was $835,504,535 for a total of $16,031,009,031. That compares to $14,668,374,994 last year.

· On an absolute basis, Lake Forest had the 5th highest increase in value- $1,362,634,037 (Irvine, Newport Beach, Anaheim, and Huntington Beach were higher).

· In terms of total value, Irvine was #1 ($78.4 Billion) followed by Newport Beach ($57.7 Billion) and Anaheim ($45.7 Billion). Lake Forest was 14th on the list in terms of total assessed value.

This is great news for the City. Sales tax is our single biggest source of revenue, but taxes on secured property and on unsecured property are our second and third biggest sources. Together, all property taxes put together slightly exceed sales tax revenue. Revenue from hotel taxes are a distant fourth.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest where he serves as Mayor. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His Twitter handle is @DrJimGardner. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.

Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a town hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be Aug 16 at 7 pm at the Lake 1 Clubhouse (Ridge Route).