Palo Alto Announcements

I post short real estate related announcements here from time to time. If anyone knows of something which they believe would benefit others, please contact me: email homes@julianalee.com, phone: 650 857-1000, or click the "Ask Juliana?" at the top right corner of this page.

March 31, 2010

The City Planning heard input about applying a single story overlay on the Fairmeadow neighborhood (Starr King Cir, Redwood Cir, Roosevelt Cir, etc). Residents were divided, city asked for a new survey covering all of the affected residents.
See City of Palo Alto announcement: http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/knowzone/news/details.asp?NewsID=613&TargetID=112

February 9, 2010

Update on High Speed Rail. Preliminary presentation of possible alternatives.
See City of Palo Alto meeting summary: http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/business/news/details.asp?NewsID=1496&TargetID=5
Also see High Speed Rail Authority Webcast

March 2, 2009

The City of Palo Alto is considering the creation of a business license tax, hoping to raise $4.4M from the business community to supplement the general fund. This tax would charge between $0.50 and $1.50 per $1,000 of gross receipts. This tax would make Palo Alto the most costly city in Santa Clara County to operate a small business. It would apply to essentially any form of business including; home based businesses, multi-unit rentals, and professional services. It has a maximum tax limit of $20,000 per business.

The Palo Alto city manager's report to the city council has a brief description. The measure is likely to appear on the November ballot.

February 13, 2009

Larry Stone, the tax assessor for Santa Clara County, gave a short presentation at the board of realtors meeting. He said that his office will be proactive about lowering tax assessments on properties which have fallen in value. If someone wishes to appeal their tax assessment, they should establish their property's value by the end of February 2009.

The fair market value is normally established as of January 1. The new tax assessments will be mailed out later this year, probably the last week in June. Homeowners will have from then, until September 15 to appeal the assessment. If your property tax is lowered, there is no limit on how fast the assessed value returns to its previous value. It may increase all of the way back up to the previous value in a single year if the market value supports that assessment.

Larry said that his office was relatively unique among California assessors. He said that proactively lowering taxes on homes which have lost value was both the right thing to do and was more cost effective than handling appeals.

If you think you might end up appealing your assessment and would like help establishing the value of your home please contact me.

I emailed an announcement to many of my customers and was glad to see many were able to attend. Many wished they could have but were unable to.