Ventura County property owners are paying their property taxes at a faster pace this year, suggesting that the local economy still has some strength. With the April 12, 2010, deadline drawing near, Tax Collector Larry Matheney announced that his staff has already received and processed more than 70% of the year’s tax roll. This represents an increased portion of the total to be collected by almost 2 percentage points over the previous year.

Matheney predicted that by the time the 2009/2010 tax year ends on June 30, the delinquency rate will be the same or lower than last year’s figure of only 3.5%. “Ventura County has consistently had one of the lowest delinquency rates in the state, borne out by the fact that we have not had to hold a public auction for tax-defaulted property for 3-years. Part of the credit goes to the priority given by the Assessor’s office to promptly reduce the taxable real property values when indicated by the recent market correction. This keeps a strong sense of fairness in the system. But the other important piece in this success story is the high level of responsibility shown by the people who live in this county.”

Matheney noted that the numbers of taxpayers using the Internet to pay their property taxes continues to increase. The service allows taxpayers to make their payments after hours, from the convenience of any computer having access to the Internet and gaining the benefit of having a printable receipt. At present rates, the cost is only $2 to pay by electronic check from the website: www.venturapropertytax.org. Major credit cards are also accepted with a convenience fee of 2.35% added to the transaction.

The total tax roll in the current 2009/2010 tax year is $1.175 Billion, a drop from the previous year’s roll of $1.2 Billion. Work is still underway to develop the tax roll for 2010/2011.