Tulare County appeals board upholds assessor valuation for Kings River home

The Tulare County Assessment Appeals Board on Thursday upheld the assessor’s valuation for a Kingsburg riverfront home, denying homeowner Daniel Scott Dumas’s appeals of the property’s base-year assessment for tax years tied to purchase transactions in 2019 and 2021.

The decision resolves three related appeals by Dumas (applications 202300268, 202300269 and 202300270). The board voted to “find for the assessor” on all three applications after a presentation from county appraisal staff and testimony from Dumas. The board’s motion carried with no recorded opposition.

The board’s role was limited to determining the base-year valuation established by the acquisition. As the assessor’s representative read from Revenue and Taxation Code Section 110 during the hearing, “for purposes of determining the full cash value … the full cash value, or fair market value is the purchase price paid in the transaction unless it is established by a preponderance of the evidence that the real property would not have transferred for the purchase price in an open market transaction.” The assessor’s presentation concluded the 12/02/2021 purchase price of $1,350,000 fell within the range of comparable…