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County certifies $56.85 billion in taxable property value; committee forwards transfers to open-space and maintenance funds
Summary
Finance transmitted a $56.85 billion net taxable value for 2026–27 (up 2.74% from last year). The committee forwarded Bill 160 (approx. $1.125 million from RPT penalties to open-space/maintenance accounts) and Bill 161 (allocates prior-year fund balance) with favorable recommendations after finance and controller explained that the 'penalties' line includes past-due payments and is an estimate used to ensure transfers.
The Committee on Finance received the real-property assessment certification for tax year 2026–27 showing a total net taxable real property value of $56,854,635,650, as presented by the real-property tax administrator. Administrator Mira noted the report breaks values down by council district, tax class and historical zones and that taxable values rose 2.74% compared with last year.
"This is over $56,000,000,000 in taxable value... the PDF online provides a breakdown by council district," Mira said, noting approximately $10,000,000,000 in exemptions reflected in the report and that tax-rate setting will be discussed at the upcoming meeting on Thursday.
The committee considered two related budget bills. Bill 160 would appropriate $1,125,000 from real property tax (RPT) penalties for FY2026 and transfer $1,000,000 to the public access/open-space preservation fund and $125,000 to a maintenance fund. During Q&A, testifier Debbie Hecht (who identified herself as having worked on the PONC program) asked whether the penalties figure covers a single year or multiple years. Controller John Arles clarified that the RPT "penalties" line has previously been used to list penalties and past-due payments together; the current notice uses an estimate of year-end collections so staff can make appropriate transfers to designated funds.
"It's an anticipation of what we think real property tax revenues will be so that we can make the appropriate allocations to PONC," Arles said, adding that the old and the new financial systems complicate separating exact penalty versus past-due amounts.
Bill 161 would appropriate $443,775.57 from prior-year reserved fund balance, splitting $274,878.65 to the public access/open-space preservation fund, $40,457.41 to the maintenance fund and $128,439.51 to the disaster emergency fund. The committee forwarded both bills to full council with favorable recommendations by voice vote.
What this means: The certification establishes the base taxable value used in upcoming tax-rate discussions; the funding transfers will move estimated penalty and reserved funds into dedicated open-space, maintenance and disaster accounts.
