No Property Tax Relief in April

The Federal Government has deferred tax payments to July, and the State of California has followed suit.

It was a pipedream to expect the property taxes to be deferred. Here's the message from Sandie Arnott, the San Mateo County Tax Collector, with the blah-blah omitted: [bold added]

I want to emphasize that the April 10 deadline for the second installment of property tax – which is a State law – must remain in place to ensure that essential county, city, school and special district services can continue...

I stress to everyone in San Mateo County: If you can pay your property taxes on time, you are obligated to do so.

We have written about how property taxes have escalated, even subject to the Proposition 13 limits some of which the politicians are trying to overturn this November.

It appears that San Mateo County didn't save any of its decade-long property tax windfall for emergencies. Everyone's talking about COVID-19 costs, and no one's talking about the savings from closing the schools or the reduction in crime.

We voted for them and their policies, so we're getting what we wanted.

[Update - 4/5/20: Virus cost San Mateo $10M in 2 months

Since the coronavirus outbreak roughly two months ago, the city of San Mateo has lost $10 million in revenue — a nearly 8% drop that has already effectively wiped away the entirety of last year’s budget surplus.

In January, the city pegged general fund revenue at $134 million for the year and now that estimate is down to about $124 million, City Manager Drew Corbett said during a special City Council meeting Monday.

All tax revenue sources with the exception of property tax are affected, Corbett said. Hotel tax revenue has dropped by nearly 40% since the outbreak, recreation and golf tax revenue has decreased by 22%, property transfer tax revenue is down 20%, business license tax revenue dropped 17% and sales tax revenue is 15% below expectations.

The above is an example of a deceptive headline. The virus did not "cost" $10 million in increased expenses. Tax revenues fell by a projected $10 million. Any financial reporter would know not to call a revenue shortfall a cost, and I hope it's just a mistake by the headline writer.