By Khalida Sarwari
The value of all assessed, taxable property on the 2012-13 assessment roll in Campbell increased by 2.2 percent from the previous year, the county assessor’s office reported in July.
The assessed value of property in Campbell increased from $6.3 billion to nearly $6.5 billion. Other West Valley cities also saw a spike. Los Gatos saw assessed property values increase by 3.6 percent and Saratoga experienced an increase of 4.9 percent.
According to the assessment roll summary, the total net assessed value of all real and business personal property in Santa Clara County increased by 3.25 percent, from $299.1 billion to $308.8 billion.
The county assessor’s office noted that the solid increase in assessed values comes after three years of minimal or negative growth.
“Economists often describe economies in curves, but Silicon Valley’s economy looks more like a check mark,” County Assessor Larry Stone said in a statement. “The real question is, will property values continue to grow up and to the right, or flatten out.”
The annual growth is from a number of factors, such as changes in ownership, exemptions, reductions when market values fall below the assessed values, new construction, and the California Consumer Price Index. The assessment roll also contains the value of business personal property, including machinery, equipment, computers and fixtures.
The assessor’s office mailed out 476,000 assessment notices to all property owners in the county. In September, they’ll receive their annual property tax bills, which are derived from assessed values.
“This year’s assessment roll provides the first concrete evidence that the Silicon Valley economy is finally heading in a positive direction,” said Stone.
The total gross assessed value of all real property, which includes land and buildings, grew 3.13 percent. Business personal property grew 6.48 percent to $25.6 billion, indicating that businesses are once again hiring new employees, leasing office space and making major purchases of machinery, equipment, computers and fixtures, according to the assessor’s office.
The growth was driven mainly by improvements in the commercial and industrial sector, and a modest increase in residential property values, according to the assessor’s office.
But it appears that not every area of the county is experiencing the same level of improvement. Despite the overall growth, the number of properties that received a reduction in assessed value grew by 10 percent, reflecting a total reduction in assessed value of $26.9 billion.
Campbell was one of four cities that recorded an increase in the number of properties in which the assessed values were reduced, along with Milpitas, Gilroy and Morgan Hill.
Assessed value of property in Campbell increases by 2.2 percent
