Assessments not included in exemption

While disabled veterans receive an exemption from paying property taxes in Shasta County, they still must pay for assessments on their property.

For Harold Hintz, a 68-year-old Navy veteran living on Daisy Street in Anderson, that included $356.38 in charges on his 2009-2010 property tax bill.

Anderson sewer charges made up nearly $300 of Hintz's tab with fire district, water, street lighting and Shasta Mosquito and Vector Control District assessments adding to the balance.

Recently, Hintz asked the Valley Post why he, as a disabled veteran, gets exempted from some taxes but not the other charges. Hintz used to live in Arizona, where he said the assessments were also cut from his tax bill.

Disabled veterans can qualify for exemption of ad valorem taxes, including the state's one percent property tax as well as the charges for most school bonds, Shasta County Assessor-Recorder Leslie Morgan said in a recent telephone interview. Assessments from sewer or fire districts, however, are based on a benefit people get rather than on the value of a property, Morgan added.

"Parcel charges, special assessments and benefit assessments are levied by a special district based on the benefit a property owner receives from the district," Shasta County Auditor-Controller's Office Managing Accountant-Auditor Sherri Jenkins said. "The amount charged can be based on usage, availability, capacity, size of the property or some other type of criteria. It is a charge for a service, not a tax."

The exemption is available only to veterans whose disability was entirely service related, according to Ted Puntillo Deputy Secretary, Veterans Services Division California Department of Veterans Affairs, who supplied the following guidelines.

Different states offer different benefits and exemptions, Dave Lanford, Shasta County Veterans Services officer said. Some states extend the property tax exemption to all veterans.