Property tax penalties waived
The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on April 21 to waive the 10 percent penalty on late payments that on property taxes that were due April 10. The penalty waiver is in light of the economic hit county residents are taking during the COVID-19 crisis.
Supervisor Joe Simitian, whose district includes Saratoga, proposed the waiver along with board president Cindy Chavez. The two supervisors also proposed publicizing the county’s option for partial payment of property taxes and directed county staff to identify other ways to make late payment penalties less onerous, including, potentially, a reduction in the interest charged on properties that fall into default.
“We’re in a crisis, and people are hurting,” Simitian said in a statement. “I think most folks understand that property taxes for our cities, our schools and the county are needed to keep our government running, particularly so given the current crisis. That being said, penalizing people who are doing the best they can during a difficult time makes no sense to me.”
The proposal also directed county staff to find additional potential relief measures for taxpayers with unpaid second installment property taxes as of July 1.
COVID-19 by the numbers
Santa Clara County’s Public Health Department has expanded its COVID-19 data dashboard to include information of confirmed cases numbers by city. As of April 22, Saratoga had 10 confirmed cases.
According to a statement from the Public Health Department, “Limited testing capacity means that case counts represent only a small portion of cases within each city.”
View the dashboard at https://www.sccgov.org/sites/covid19.