LOS ANGELES, March 21 (UPI) -- Declining values of homes in southern California have caused a run on property assessment offices by people seeking reassessments to lower their taxes.
The assessment office in Riverside County is receiving more than 100 calls a day from property owners who want their homes reassessed, the county assessor, Larry Ward, told the Los Angeles Times.
In 2007, the office reduced the value of nearly 3,000 homes by an average of $43,000, affording those homeowners an average $500 break in property taxes, the newspaper reported Friday.
Property values in the area have declined 19 percent from their peak, the Times said.
"I think we are only beginning to see the impact. I think the chickens are going to come home to roost. How many chickens is the question," Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said.
In the recession of the mid-1990s, the number of residents asking for review of their assessments jumped from an average 10,000 to 110,000.
Los Angeles County includes 2.3 million assessed parcels.
