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photo credit: Sonoma CountyThe Assessor's Office worked through an extensive backlog of property assessments, in part caused by the calamitous 2017 Tubbs Fire, the 2019 Kincade Fire and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, to release its 2026-2027 assessment roll to the Sonoma County Auditor-Controller-Treasurer-Tax Collector.
An assessment roll is a publicly available register of all taxable properties and their values.
Rhiannon Yaeger, Sonoma County chief deputy assessor, said that unless there was a market downturn, one would expect a year-over-year increase in the assessment roll due to the annual Consumer Price Index inflationary increase of 2% in addition to property reassessments due to new construction and when properties change hands.
Passed in 1978, California's Proposition 13 caps the base property tax at 1% and the annual assessment increase to 2%. Proposition 13 also limits the reassessment of a new base property value to properties that change ownership or are newly constructed.
The assessor is responsible for reappraising properties that change owners or new construction. The annual tax assessment roll is completed by June 30 and handed over to the auditor, who determines the amount of the tax bills. The tax collector then issues the bills and collects tax revenue. The county assessor and auditor-tax collector are separate, independent departments. Tax bills are usually sent out in the fall.
Yaeger said that the assessor can use three methods to value a property : a market approach, an income approach, a cost approach, or a combination of these methods.
The market approach compares the value of a property to similar surrounding properties. The income method is based on the revenue a property generates, and the cost approach is based on how much it would cost to build an equivalent structure.
Assessors do conduct site visits, based on the unique characteristics of a property, and property owners have refused these site visits.
"They can't refuse an assessment. They can refuse a site visit," said Yaeger, referring to property owners. "We are still mandated to appraise it, so we just do the best we can with the information we have available to us."
Property owners have until Nov. 30 to appeal their assessment. Yaeger said that historically a small proportion of the county population files an appeal.
According to Sonoma County's 2025-2026 property tax distribution of nearly $1.3 billion, almost half was distributed to schools, 27% to the county, and 9% to Sonoma County cities.
Sonoma County Auditor-Controller-Treasurer-Tax Collector Erick Roeser said in an email that his office would not have 2026-2027 tax revenue information until late September.
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