LA Briefs: County to Accelerate Property Tax Corrections, Reimbursements and Mayor Bass Co-Hosts  Ethics Symposium

L.A. County Takes on Speeding Up Property Tax Corrections and Reimbursements

This week, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion introduced by Supervisor Kathryn Barger and co-authored by Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell that gives several county departments 90 days to find proposed solutions to quicken the county’s resolution of tax disputes and reimbursements for overpayments, and recommendations to streamline the assessment appeals board process to ensure more efficient case resolution.

The motion notes that, in 2023, the Los Angeles county assessor recorded approximately $25 billion collected from real estate, business, boats and aircraft property taxes. In 2020–at the height of the pandemic–the county’s independent assessment appeals board which is dedicated to settling valuation disputes between taxpayers and the assessor’s office, had nearly 34,000 open appeals. That backlog of disputes has since been reduced, but there are still many delayed appeals in process.    

In addition, the motion directs several county departments to assess the status of pending AAB cases and performance data, such as average time to resolve appeals and issue refunds. 

Office of Mayor Bass Co-Hosts Ethics Symposium with Leaders from Across Southern California

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass April 12 continued to advance ethical conduct in City Hall by cosponsoring a first-of-its-kind ethics symposium in Los Angeles with more than 50 governmental ethics and oversight leaders from across Southern California coming together to share best practices. 

The symposium featured a keynote address by Ambassador Norm Eisen (Ret.), who served as special counsel and special assistant to President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2011, highlighting transparency efforts and techniques to lead ethically in public service. Three panels featured ethics and compliance officers, inspectors general and appointed ethics officials discussing how to promote ethics and uphold the public’s trust in local government. 

The symposium was co-led by Mayor Bass’ ethics officer, Ruth Kwon. Last year, Mayor Bass appointed Kwon to serve as the deputy counsel to the Mayor and the ethics officer for the mayor of Los Angeles. Kwon will assist the mayor to develop policies relating to ethics, transparency and other initiatives for this office and the city as a whole. 

Details: Read the two ethics memos released last year by the mayor for mayor’s office staff here and here.