San Bernardino County Auditor-Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector (ATC) Ensen Mason announced his office would fully support the reassessment efforts of County Assessor Bob Dutton regarding properties in the earthquake-stricken Trona region of north-west San Bernardino County.
“I have directed my staff to prioritize taxpayer requests for earthquake property tax relief after they file requests with the Assessor and those requests are approved by his Office,” said Mason. “After contacting the Assessor, those affected by the natural disaster may contact our ATC office at (909) 387-8308 or toll free at 1 (877) 885-7654 for possible payment deferral.”
The Tax Collector’s office will commence the routine mailing of bills for items of personal property such as boats and airplanes as well as business equipment and fixtures on July 15, 2019. These bills become due and payable on or before August 31, 2019. Tax Collector Mason has directed his staff to identify such properties located within the earthquake area and will send them a special letter along with their bill notifying them of possible tax relief and offering the processing assistance of his staff if they so request.
Mr. Mason was elected to his office last year, defeating the incumbent officeholder. He ran as a Taxpayer Advocate/CPA and has been fulfilling his campaign promises of transparency, accountability and increased communication with the public since his swearing in ceremony in January 2019. In his first six months in office, Mason published the first-ever report to the public on Fraud, Waste and Abuse, greatly increased social media and press releases explaining activities of his staff to the public, added a privacy policy to the Department website, created an easy to read and understand brochure explaining the functions of each of the nine divisions within ATC, embarked on a public speaking tour to present his office before community and service groups around the County, instituted a Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping collaboration application between his Property Tax and Information Technology divisions allowing taxpayers to see detailed information on each of the 814,000 pieces of real property in San Bernardino County and required the very large corporate taxpayers in the County to submit their property tax payments electronically instead of by check, thus reducing float time and getting their tax money to receiving jurisdictions faster.