I used to reside in Tulare County, located in California’s Central Valley. It’s prime agricultural land. It’s also one of the poorest counties in California. And the county will need to find $327,000.
The Dinuba Redevelopment Agency is funded through property taxes paid by various businesses in Dinuba. Unfortunately, the Tulare County Assessor misclassified some businesses in 1998. The error was discovered in 2004, and corrected. The Dinuba Redevelopment Agency asked that the error be fixed retroactively (so that the agency would receive $327,000); the county refused.
Dinuba took the case to court, and lost in Tulare County Superior Court. They appealed, and won at the 5th District Court of Appeals. Tulare County then appealed to the California Supreme Court; that court upheld the appeals court decision.
So it is important to check your property tax bills…both for the counties sending them to taxpayers and for taxpayers receiving them.