Western Railroad Discussion > Railroad property valuations in California

Assessed valuations of railroad property in California for fiscal year 2018-19 (lien date of January 1, 2018) are set by the State Board of Equalization. All valuations were adopted by  the Board at their May meeting.   Property taxes at the basic 1% rate are paid to whatever counties said railroad property is in.   Here's a snapshot of the big and small lines;

Over $10 million valuation:   UP $2,957,100,000;  BNSF $2,275,400,000;  M&ET  $50,500,000;  Cal Northern:  $36,800,000;  Pacific Harbor Lines  $25,900,000;  Napa Valley Wine Train:  $25,600,000;  San Joaquin Valley RR  $17,100,000;  Trona   $16,700,000

Less than $1 million valuation:  Pacific Sun  $931,000;  Goose Lake LLC  $709,000;  McCloud River  $534,000;  Yreka Western  $533,000;  Tulare Valley:  $459,000;  Quincy   $246,000;  West Isle Line  $242,000

All the rest in the state were valued between $1 and $10 million.

Railroads that had BOE-adopted penalties included Goose Lake, Tulare Valley,  CCT,  Santa Cruz & Monterey Bay, Coast Belle Railroad Co, and Yreka Western.  Mosty penalties were relatively small, except for CCT where it is $936,000, which is 10% of their 2018-19 valuation of $9,360,000 and Coast Belle  of $300,000, while they're valution is only $1,200,000.   I'd guess most penalties are for unpaid taxes+interest.

Railroads are statewide assessees, and are valued based on their value as a going concern, not based on their individual property holdings, as I understand it.

Posted from iPhone

reindeerflame Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Railroads are statewide assessees, and are valued
> based on their value as a going concern, not based
> on their individual property holdings, as I
> understand it.
>
> Posted from iPhone

Correct, although the SBE has a proprietary formula that also includes a component of depreciated value of property but the valuations are mostly based on 'commercial' value of the particular entity within the state.  SBE values railroads, telecommunications and privately owned utitlies, mostly power plants/transmission lines.  They are called unitary values.   The SBE valuations for a given entity are listed on each and every taxing district in the state where they have a location. The values shown are for that particular entity and taxed accordingly by the county tax-collector.  To see this, access a county auditor-controller website for any county and pull up 'assessed valuation by tax rate area' or  ......by taxing district.   You'll see valuations for Local Secured, Local Unsecured and SBE.   The latter will include whatever railroad, etc. might have value within said districts.   For example, Riverside County will include some valuation for UP, BNSF,  Arizona & California plus every telecom, electric and gas outfit, etc. in the county.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/18 06:52 by utwazoo.