Cellular service providers will not receive a requested refund in property tax payments to Merced County.
The Merced County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to deny the requested refunds to AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and CenturyLink, which were made for fiscal year 2017-2018 and 2018-2019. .
The backstory: All four companies claim that the property tax rate applied to their land violates the California Constitution.
- The State Board of Equalization determines the total assessed value of utilities, which includes communication providers, and delivers a roll of the assessed value of the portion of the assessed property and assets to each county auditor.
- Each county applies a legislatively mandated tax rate to the board’s enrolled values, and Merced County stands by the mandated tax rate calculations imposed on the communication companies.
By the numbers: In total, Merced County denied nearly half a million dollars in property tax refund requests.
- AT&T requested $189,332 for fiscal year 2017-2018 and $158,962 for fiscal year 2018-2019.
- Sprint requested $12,240.68 for fiscal year 2017-2018 and $13,006.72 for fiscal year 2018-2019.
- T-Mobile requested $26,350.56 for fiscal year 2017-2018 and $24,697.53 for fiscal year 2018-2019.
- CenturyLink requested $17,347.47 for fiscal year 2017-2018 and $21,110.14 for fiscal year 2018-2019.
