In Depth: COVID-19's impact on property taxes
LOS ANGELES - SEGMENT A: COVID-19 impact on property taxes
Hal interviews L.A. County Assessor Jeffrey Prang about the impact that the Coronavirus crisis has had on the Assessor’s office.
Prang says that property taxes are one of the primary methods of funding local programs, including healthcare and equipment.
He says that there isn’t enough data yet to predict whether there will be an impact on the LA County budget because of housing market changes that would affect property taxes.
Property taxes provide a huge amount of the revenue for L.A. city and county.
Prang says people are really struggling with their property taxes- but that his office shouldn’t be confused with the tax collector.
But that the tax collector will waive penalties for filing late, and there is a form online to request those penalties waived.
SEGMENT B: COVID-19 impacts on the assessor's office
Prang says the County may be headed into a COVID-19 related recession because the number of transactions have been reduced, many people aren't paying their rent, and more people may be putting their homes or businesses on the market, which will impact housing prices, and thereby hurt property tax revenues.
He says that it's even possible that we could be facing another recession like we had in 2008.
SEGMENT C: Assessor's office working from home
Prang says 85 to 95% of their workers are teleworking on any particular day. He says they saw some lack of productivity because their personal equipment wasn't as workable as what they used at work. The only people really going in to the office are the senior managers. He says they still have plenty to do, as the hospitals and doctors and nurses are depending on them for a paycheck.
SEGMENT D: Performing from home
Hal talks to Actor/Singer Robert Davi with more than 150 movies to his name, he is also turning to singing as a profession.
He talks about a video that he and a number of other performers created a video called "Virus Stay Away From My Door" which gives a contribution to first responders with every download.
We close with that video, which features musicians including Kenny G.