Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the legislative body of a chartered city which assesses and collects its own property taxes may, by ordinance, provide that every person who at 12:01 a.m. on March 1 was the owner of, or had in his possession or under his control, any taxable property, or who acquired such property after such date and is liable for the taxes thereon for the fiscal year commencing the immediately following July 1, which property was thereafter damaged or destroyed, without his fault, by a misfortune or calamity, may, within the time specified in the ordinance, make application for the reassessment of such property and deliver to the assessing official of the city a written statement showing the condition and value, if any, of the property immediately after the damage or destruction, which damage must be shown thereon to be in excess of five thousand dollars ($5,000). The application shall be executed under penalty of perjury or, if executed outside the State of California, verified by affidavit.
Upon receiving a proper application, the assessor shall reassess the property according to its full cash value immediately after the damage or destruction. The assessor shall notify the applicant in writing of the amount of the proposed reassessment. The notice shall state that the applicant may appeal the proposed reassessment to the local board of equalization within 14 days of the date of mailing the notice. If an appeal is requested within the 14-day period, the board shall hear and decide the matter as if the proposed reassessment had been entered on the roll as an assessment made outside the regular assessment period. The decision of the board regarding the damaged value of the property shall be final, provided that a decision of the local board of equalization regarding any reassessment made pursuant to this section shall create no presumption as regards the value of the affected property subsequent to the date of the damage.
If the damaged full cash value of the property as determined above is not at least five thousand dollars ($5,000) less than the full cash value shown on the assessment roll for the year in question, no adjustment shall be made to said roll and no taxes shall be canceled or refunded. Those reassessed values resulting from reductions in full cash value of at least five thousand dollars ($5,000), as determined above, shall be forwarded to the auditor by the assessor or the clerk of the board, as the case may be. The auditor shall enter the reassessed values on the roll. After being entered on the roll, said reassessed values shall not be subject to review except by a court of competent jurisdiction.
If no such application is made and the county assessor determines that the full cash value of such property for the assessment year is reduced by more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) from the full cash value of the property for the immediately preceding assessment year due to the damage or destruction caused by the misfortune or calamity, the assessor shall notify the property owner that the property will be reassessed. The assessor shall assess the property, or reassess it if it has already been assessed, according to the condition and value immediately after the damage or destruction, and the assessor, if he reassesses the property, shall transmit to the local board of equalization a description of the property so reassessed, the name of the person making the application in connection with the property, if any, or the name of the property owner notified of the reassessment, and the value of the property as so reassessed. Upon such notice as it may find to be proper, the local board of equalization shall equalize any such assessment or reassessment.
As used in this section, “damage” includes property which has diminished in value as a result of restricted access to the property where such diminution in value was caused by the misfortune or calamity.
The tax rate fixed for property on the roll on which the property so assessed appears or the property so reassessed appeared at the time of its original assessment shall be applied to the amount of the equalized assessment or reassessment determined in accordance with this section. In the event that the resulting figure is less than the tax theretofore computed, the tax shall be determined as follows:
(a) With respect to property on the secured roll, a prorated portion of the tax due on the property as originally assessed at the rate established for the property on the secured roll for the current fiscal year, such proration to be determined on the basis of the number of months in the year during which the property was in an undamaged condition plus a proration of the tax due on the property as reassessed in its damaged or destroyed condition at the rate established for property on the secured roll for such fiscal year, such proration to be determined on the basis of the number of months in the year in which the property was in a damaged condition, including the month in which the damage was incurred.
(b) With respect to property on the unsecured roll, a prorated portion of the tax shall be computed on the original assessment of the property and a prorated portion of the tax computed on the reassessment of the property as determined in the preceding paragraph.
Any tax paid in excess of the total tax due shall be refunded to the taxpayer pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 5096) of Part 9 of Division 1 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, as an erroneously collected tax.
(Amended by Stats. 1976, Ch. 1388.)