(a) Pursuant to California Revenue and Taxation Code Section 1611.5 and Property Tax Rules 308 and 325 under Title 18 of the California Code of Regulations, if either the Applicant or the Assessor desires written findings of fact and conclusions of law (“findings”), that party shall submit a written request for findings to the Clerk of the Assessment Appeals Board before commencement of the hearing. The requesting party shall also pay the Assessment Appeals Board (1) a $215 deposit to cover the first hour of time that the County will spend to prepare the findings, which deposit shall be due before the conclusion of the hearing; and 2) a $215 fee for every additional hour spent by the County to prepare the findings, with a total maximum of 30 hours billed, for all applications filed on or after July 1, 2010 which shall be due within 30 days after the Clerk has informed the requesting party in writing of the total amount owed.
(b) A request for findings shall be deemed abandoned and finding fees shall be waived if any of the following occur: (1) the requesting party fails to pay the deposit before the conclusion of the hearing; (2) the requesting party fails to pay the total fee within 30 days after the Clerk of the Assessment Appeals Board has informed that party in writing of the total amount owed; (3) upon issuance of the notice of decision the Clerk requests written confirmation within 10 business days that the requesting party is still requesting findings and that party does not confirm; (4) the requesting party abandons its request orally on the record before the conclusion of the hearing; or (5) the requesting party informs the Clerk in writing that it wishes to abandon its request, provided that the findings have not already issued.
(c) If a party abandons its request for findings as set forth in subsection (b), the Assessment Appeals Board shall cause that party to receive a refund of any deposits or fees paid, unless the County has already spent one hour or more on the findings. In addition, the Clerk of the Assessment Appeals Board shall promptly notify all parties in writing that the request for findings has been abandoned and that any other party may renew the request by submitting a written request to the Clerk, accompanied by the required one-hour deposit, within 10 business days. If a renewed request for findings is deemed abandoned pursuant to subsection (b), there shall be no further opportunity to request findings, and the Assessment Appeals Board need not prepare the findings.
(d) Nothing in this Section 2B.11 shall be construed to prohibit the Assessment Appeals Board from preparing and issuing findings on its own motion at its own expense.
(e) Where an applicant files two or more applications at the same time affecting the same appraisal unit for the same tax year, the applicant shall be liable for a single findings fee.
(f) Revenues generated by the findings fees shall be used exclusively to pay expenses incurred by the County for producing the findings.
(Added by Ord. 82-94, App. 2/25/94; amended by Ord. 398-94, App. 11/23/94; Ord. 393-98, App. 12/24/98; Ord. 170-10, File No. 100557, App. 7/23/2010; Ord. 238-17, File No. 170836, App. 12/15/2017, Eff. 1/14/2018)