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Board of Equalization unanimously adopts escaped assessments and audit findings for eight companies
Summary
At its March 25 meeting the California Board of Equalization unanimously adopted escaped land assessments and audit findings for eight state-assessed entities — including DCR Transmission, PG&E, Pacific Bell, Mendocino Railway and audits for Alamitos, Huntington Beach Energy, China Telecom Americas and Lightspeed Networks. Assessees have a 50-day window to appeal.
The California State Board of Equalization voted unanimously March 25 to adopt a set of land escaped assessments and audit findings affecting utilities and telecom companies, board records and staff presentations show.
Pam DeNapoli, manager in the state-assessed properties division, told the board that items 2 through 5 were escaped land assessments arising when state-assessed entities failed to timely report property now found on the assessment roll. "DCR Transmission LLC did not provide additional information in response to our 30‑day letter," DeNapoli said while asking the board to adopt the staff recommendation for two Riverside County parcels. The board moved and adopted the recommendation without public comment.
DeNapoli also presented revised escaped assessments for Pacific Gas & Electric Company and late-reporting escaped assessments for Pacific Bell Telephone Company (parcels in Humboldt, Placer and Yuba counties) and Mendocino Railway (one parcel in Mendocino County). Each assessee was given 50 days after adoption to file an appeal, DeNapoli said.
On related audit items, Michelle Cruz, manager of the unitary section, recommended approval of audit-based value changes for several state-assessed companies. Cruz explained that audits follow a statutory process and that assessees receive copies of audit reports and a 30‑day opportunity to submit additional information. "Due to the confidentiality nature of the material used by staff to determine our recommended value changes due to audit, we are limited to what we can discuss in today's public meeting," Cruz said.
Jack McCool, chief of the state-assessed properties division, answered questions from board members about statutory penalty terminology after the board considered the China Telecom audit. "It is an assessment in lieu of interest — it's not technically interest," he said, explaining that the phrase reflects the statutory label and that the audit process applies statutorily required assessments and penalties when value has escaped assessment.
All motions to adopt the staff recommendations for the escaped assessments and audit items (items 2 through 9 on the agenda) carried by unanimous roll-call vote.
What happens next
Staff noted that each affected assessee receives official notice of the change in value and has 50 days to file an appeal. Where statutory penalty or assessment-in-lieu-of-interest figures are involved, staff said the board's ability to abate those amounts is constrained by statute and existing appeals processes.
