About the Assessor and Recorders Office

Office of Donald O'Connor

Alpine County Assessor/Recorder

Proposition 19 was recently passed by the voters of California and changes the possible future tax obligations for children and grandchildren inheriting property after February 16, 2021. In addition, starting April 1, 2021, Prop 19 also affects disaster relief and the base year value transfers for people over 55 or disabled. Not all the details have been worked and may require additional legislation. Please refer to the State Board of Equalization's chart for more information. https://www.boe.ca.gov/prop19/

Notice: Due to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus), the Alpine County Administration building is currently closed to the public. The staff is still working and available to handle your needs during normal business hours. All communication with our office should be done via phone, email or by US Mail / overnight courier. Our address and contact information is available below or at this directory. In addition to US Mail, a drop box is available outside the Administration building to deposit documents or overnight courier parcels.

If you have a document that you would like to submit for recording, please email Jeanette Millar a copy of all the pages in the document, including the PCOR, prior to sending the hard copy. She will review the document and make sure its recordable and will also provide you with the exact recording fee. This will save everyone time and minimize rejected documents. If using an overnight delivery service for your document, please email Jeanette once you have received delivery confirmation. Documents will be recorded as soon as possible but may not be processed the same day as delivered.

Thank you for your understanding during this challenging time.

This closure is indefinite and we will update this page as the situation changes.

The Role of the County Assessor

The County Assessor, an elected official, is governed by the California Constitution, the laws passed by the Legislature, and the rules adopted by the State Board of Equalization. An individual county government does not control the County Assessor's tasks.

Annual Assessments and Functions of the Assessor

The County Assessor must annually assess all taxable property in the county, except for state-assessed property, to the person, business, or legal entity owning, claiming, possessing, or controlling the property on January 1. The duties of the County Assessor are to discover all assessable property, to inventory and list all taxable property, to value the property, and to enroll the property on the local assessment roll. The Assessor's primary responsibility is to annually determine the proper taxable value for each property so the owner is assured of paying the correct amount of property tax to partially fund the local government and school system.

These functions are largely governed by the:

• California Constitution
• California Revenue and Taxation Code
• California State Board of Equalization
  
• California Government Code

The Roll of the County Recorders Office

The County Recorders Office is responsible for recording, filing and the preservation of public documents associated with land transactions, including sale, lien, purchase, and easements. Once these documents are recorded, the County Recorder creates an index and makes it available for examination by interested parties and issues copies upon request. Most of the duties of the Recorder are prescribed by State law.

The County Recorder is also appointed by the State of California as the Local Registrar of Births, Marriage & Deaths. These duties include registering all Birth, Marriage & Death certificates occurring in Alpine County and transmitting those original records to the California Department of Health Services - Office of Vital Statistics.

Our office is located at 99 Water Street Markleeville, California in the Administration building. Phone Number: (530) 694-2283

Our US Postal Service mailing address is P.O. Box 155, Markleeville CA 96120

Recording hours: Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. - excluding holidays

General office hours: Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. - excluding holidays

Online Resources and Information

California Property Tax: An Overview
California Government Code
California State Board of Equalization
California Revenue and Taxation Code
California State Constitution - Article XIII & Article XIIIA pertains to property taxation
California State Board of Equalization Property Taxes Information
California Health and Safety Code
California Laws