In addition to your basic property taxes, if you property tax bill seems unusually high you may have a Special and/or Direct Assessment on your home. Depending on the area your home is located, there may be charges necessary to pay off any voter-approved general obligation bonds or other indebtedness, special assessments, or direct levies. For example, a Direct Assessment may be applied if voters decide to establish a sewage system in a neighborhood that is older where most of the homes use septic tanks. The direct assessment is used to cover the cost of this improvement to the neighborhood. Normally, the direct assessment would be applied over a period of years so that the voters are not overwhelmed by the cost of the new improvement to their neighborhood. Special and Direct Assessments are a specific reason, a specific improvement to a community and will only last as long as was determined to cover the cost of the community improvement. Typically, such indebtedness results in a small fraction of a percent increase in the tax rate.

Direct levies are levied on the tax bill by the county tax collector on behalf of the local levying agency or district, not on behalf of the assessor, auditor-controller, and/or the county tax collector divisions. Remember, that Special and Direct Assessments are based on voter approved indebtedness so if there is any dispute it has nothing to do with the Assessor. For more information, or if you disagree with a special assessment levied against your property, you must contact the levying district directly. Usually this information will be on your property tax bill. However, you cannot refuse to pay your tax bill that contains the direct levy amount, even if the direct levy amount is under dispute. Always remember that no matter how much you disagree with what is on your property tax bill it is always better to pay the bill and get refunded later than to have an outstanding tax bill on your home. The processes to remove a delinquent property tax bill and all of the fines associated with that require many signatures and explanations within the Assessor and Tax Collector and can be a mess. So keep it simple, always pay your bill, any exception to this would be an extreme case.