Property Taxes in Laguna Beach

What goes into the bill

A Laguna Beach property tax bill starts with the 1 percent rate that Proposition 13 sets. The Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector says bills can run higher than 1 percent because of special assessments in your taxing district, including bond issues and Mello-Roos charges.

The County Assessor sets the value that the rate is applied to. For property acquired on or after March 1, 1975, the base year value is usually the market value when it last changed hands. The Assessor adds an inflation factor of no more than 2 percent a year. A change in ownership or new construction can raise taxable value by more than that.

For the countywide picture, see the Orange County property tax guide from Realatrends Real Estate, this site’s sponsor. This page stays with Laguna Beach parcels.

The 2026-27 rates on Laguna Beach parcels

The county assigns every parcel to a tax rate area, and the Auditor-Controller publishes a Tax Rate Book each year. Its 2026-27 edition lists 50 areas for the city, numbered 05-001 and up. Here is what the book shows:

• Basic levy: 1.00000 percent in every area.
• Metropolitan Water District line (listed as MWDOC): .00850 in most areas.
• Laguna Beach Unified School District bond (listed as EL2001 REF2020): .00376 in most areas.

Adding those lines gives a total of 1.01226 percent in 43 areas. Four areas (05-038, 05-040, 05-041 and 05-046) total 1.00850. The county’s district list places those four in Capistrano Unified School District, and they carry no Laguna Beach school bond line. Three areas (05-901 to 05-903) total 1.00376, with no Metropolitan Water District line.

Each figure is a percentage of assessed value, not of what a home would sell for. The Auditor-Controller calculates the debt service rates every year, and the Board of Supervisors adopts them; it adopted the 2025-26 rates on September 9, 2025. Next year’s book can differ.

The Auditor-Controller says these rates do not include any Mello-Roos tax or special assessments.

Special assessments and Mello-Roos

The Auditor-Controller’s district list, dated May 21, 2026, names the districts inside each Laguna Beach tax rate area. Besides the city, county and school districts, it lists the Laguna Beach Municipal Street Lighting District No. 1 over 16 of the 50 areas, Emerald Bay Community Service District over one and Three Arch Bay Community Services District over two. Water districts on the list are the Laguna Beach Subsidiary County Water District (37 areas), South Coast Water District (13) and Irvine Ranch Water District (four).

No community facilities (Mello-Roos) district appears over any Laguna Beach area in that list. Your own bill shows your tax rate area and any special assessments, and the Treasurer-Tax Collector says to call the district directly with a question about one.

Installments and delinquency dates

The lien date is January 1, and the county mails secured bills in September and October. Here are the dates the Treasurer-Tax Collector prints:

1. First installment: due November 1. The last day to pay is December 10. After that, a 10 percent penalty applies.
2. Second installment: due February 1. The last day to pay is April 10. After that, a 10 percent penalty and a $23.00 collection fee apply.

If a date lands on a weekend or holiday, it moves to the next business day. The Tax Collector cannot take payment on taxes that have not been billed yet. Pay, check status or request a duplicate bill at taxbill.octreasurer.gov, or call (714) 834-3411.

The supplemental bill after you buy

A sale or finished new construction triggers a supplemental assessment on top of the regular bill. The Assessor says an event from June 1 through December 31 creates one supplemental bill, and an event from January 1 through May 31 creates two. The charge is generally prorated by the months left in the fiscal year and starts on the first day of the month after the event.

The Treasurer-Tax Collector describes the bill as the tax on the difference between the old and new values. The owner owes it, the county cannot send it to a lender, and filing an appeal does not end your duty to pay. You have 60 days from the mailing of the notice to appeal. The first 30 days and cost of living pages put it in the first-year budget.

The homeowners’ exemption

The exemption takes $7,000 off taxable value, which the Assessor says saves at least $70 a year. You qualify if you own the home, it was your principal residence at 12:01 a.m. on January 1 and you hold no exemption on another property. File by 5:00 p.m. on February 15 for the full amount. If you miss that deadline, the Assessor says qualified applicants who file on or before December 10 may receive 80 percent, or $5,600. If you had no exemption when you bought, you have 30 days from the mailing of the supplemental notice to file a claim.

The Assessor sends new owners a pre-filled application. If you sell or move, tell the Assessor.

Moving within California or inside a family

State law lets some homeowners carry a taxable value to a new home. The Assessor’s page covers transfers from April 1, 2021 for owners age 55 or older, owners who are severely and permanently disabled and owners whose home lost more than half its improvement value to a wildfire or a Governor-declared disaster. The replacement can be anywhere in California, must become your principal residence within two years of the sale and can be used up to three times. If the replacement costs more than the original home sold for, the difference is added to the transferred value.

For a home passed from parents to a child, the Assessor says the new taxable value is the greater of the parent’s Prop 13 value or market value minus a $1,000,000 exclusion, which it says is adjusted each year beginning in 2023. The home must have been the parents’ principal residence and must become the child’s, and the child must claim the homeowners’ exemption within one year. These rules turn on details, so ask an Assessor’s appraiser at (714) 834-2727 before you rely on either one.

Check your own parcel

This page is general information, not tax advice. Confirm every figure for your address with the County Assessor and the Treasurer-Tax Collector.

1. Find your assessed value with the Assessor’s Find My Assessed Value tool at assessedvalue.ocassessor.gov.
2. Look up your bill at taxbill.octreasurer.gov to see your tax rate area and any special assessments.
3. Match the tax rate area to the 2026-27 Tax Rate Book on the Auditor-Controller’s website.
4. Call the Assessor at (714) 834-2727 with questions about your assessed value.