TO: Mayor and City Councilmembers
FROM: Paul Young, Finance Director
SUBJECT:
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Report on Property Tax Revenue Update
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RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION:
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Receive the Report on Property Tax Revenue Update. No further action is required.
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SUMMARY:
Preliminary assessed values indicate that taxable property values increased approximately 3.55% for fiscal year 2026/27 compared with the prior year.
The preliminary report is based on values assessed for the county’s 2026-27 property tax bills and estimates for county admin fees. The final property tax includes actual county admin fees and supplemental tax bills throughout the year.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL ACTION:
Staff updates City Council bi-annually with preliminary and final property tax reports. The last property tax staff report to City Council was on April 21, 2026.
DISCUSSION:
Under the City’s consulting agreement, HdL Companies monitors and projects property tax revenue and vehicle license fee revenue and provides preliminary and final reports for both revenue sources.
HdL reported the following changes in net taxable value:
Taxable property values are estimated to have increased 3.55% in 2026/27 compared with the prior year. Previous annual changes were 5.4% in 2025/26, 4.4% in 2024/25, and 6.6% in 2023/24. The most recent decrease was 4.5% in 2012/13.
The main reasons for the 2026/27 increase are Change from CPI, Transfers of Ownership and Unsecured value change.
Changes from CPI are the increase in taxable value per Proposition 13. Proposition 13 limits increases to 2% each year from the original sales price. The total change in CPI for 2026/27 was $20.2 million. The Assessed value for taxes is the lower of the Prop 13 value or the market value. If the market value for taxes is lower than the prop 13 value it results in a Prop. 8 Reduction. The total amount of property tax reductions under prop 8 is $2.9 million.
The main reason for the increase in Transfer of Ownership was due to 139 sales of single family residential. This increased the taxable values from $28,735,823 to $39,237,554, a $10,501,731 increase. The rest of the increase was due to 46 other sales that increased the taxable values from $23,775,277 to $29,751,147, a $5,975,870 increase.
The unsecured taxable value increase was mostly due to Helibro & PJ Helicopters, who combined account for over half of the Unsecured tax roll and over six percent of combined tax roll.
The median sale price (the price between the low and highest sale price) increased to $270,601 for 2025, a 3.46% increase. Median sale prices decreased to $260,000 for 2024, a 3.70% decrease. Median sale price increased 2.66% in 2023 and 5.20% in 2022. Preliminary results for the first 7 months current year, 2026, median sale price increased 4.09%.
Property tax is shared between the city, county and local districts. The City of Red Bluff’s current weighted tax share of property taxes collected within the city is 16.72%. For every one dollar of property tax paid on a property within the city limits the City of Red Bluff receives approximately 17 cents.
CITY FISCAL IMPACT:
Estimated property tax for 2026/27 is $2,632,832, which decreased by $60,8454 from the prior estimate in the original budget. The amount is divided into $2,410,581 for the General Fund, which is a $3,822 increase from the estimate in the original budget, and $226,816 for the Airport, which is a $64,676 decrease from the estimate in the original budget.
VLF is estimated to be $1,959,918 which is a $11,502 increase from the estimate in the original budget.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Preliminary Property Tax Report 2026-2027