Decision to Refund Cable Tax Stalled in Assessor’s Office

A decision on refunding to Orange County cable TV subscribers the property tax surcharge they pay monthly remained stalled Tuesday in the county assessor’s office, which would first need to return the disputed tax to the county’s 10 cable companies.

Tom Agin, deputy county counsel, said Tuesday that the assessor’s office had not received a written order from Superior Court Judge Jonathan Cannon, who ruled last week in favor of a cable provider for the city of Orange in its dispute with the assessor’s office about how to calculate its taxable value.

The assessor’s office will make a decision on whether to pursue further appeal of the case depending upon its analysis of the order, he said. Besides Cablevision of Orange, the assessor’s office is in litigation with nine other providers of cable service in Orange County.

In the dispute, cable companies contend that the assessor is taxing them on the basis of the value of their businesses, not just on the value of their property.

The 10 companies say their collective tax bills were unfairly raised to about $13 million a year in 1989, up from $2.5 million a year earlier as a result of the valuation method begun two years ago.

Until the assessor’s office makes a decision on an appeal, cable companies serving Orange County cannot decide whether to refund taxes to subscribers, said John Gibbs, vice president and legal counsel of Continental Cablevision, which provides cable service in Tustin.

“Tax refunds could occur if there was no appeal, but nothing is clear right now,” he said.

Steve Everett, general manager of Cablevision of Orange, the company affected by Cannon’s ruling, said that his company is awaiting further notice from the assessor’s office and it won’t make any decision on a reimbursement to cable subscribers until then.

He added that legal fees would be deducted from any reimbursement. He also said any reimbursement to his company would likely be small.

“There is no windfall to the cable companies, or at least not this cable company,” he said.

Leo Brennan, general manager of Dimension Cable Services, which provides cable service in south Orange County, said the decision last week does not automatically apply to his company’s litigation with the county.

He said if the assessor’s office drops the appeal and returns to the previous valuation methods, his company would consider refunding money to subscribers.

But he also noted that any legal costs related to the court battle would be subtracted from amounts returned by the county to cable companies, thereby reducing any potential refund for subscribers.

Meanwhile, Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez said if the assessor’s office decides not to appeal the ruling and money is reimbursed to the cable companies, those companies should in turn reimburse cable subscribers.

Cable subscribers have been paying an extra $1 or $2 a month for basic cable service as a result of the new valuations favored by the county assessor, Bradley L. Jacobs.