The seal of the Fresno County assessor recorder is seen at the new Downtown Fresno office. Photo by Edward Smith

Central Valley property values continue to climb — with Fresno County’s tax roll jumping the highest.

Fresno County’s assessment roll — representing the assessed value of non-government-owned property — reached $102.6 billion, an increase of 8.33% for fiscal 2021, a stark jump from 5% growth in the previous years.

Fowler experienced the largest growth with 13.81%, followed by the City of San Joaquin with a growth of 13.13%. Kingsburg and Fresno experienced the lowest increases with 7.84% and 7.98% respectively.

A total of 3,377 new parcels were added to the roll. Of the 302,789 parcels in Fresno County, 233,854 are single-family homes, 16,075 are commercial and industrial properties, 12,971 are condominiums, 6,551 are apartments, 7,174 are mobile units and 26,164 are argricultural properties.

The county-wide assessment translates to about $1.02 billion in property taxes. Despite the growth in property values, nearly 90% of property owners tax liability will only increase 2%, according to the Assessor’s office — the highest amount allowed by Prop 13 unless there is a change of ownership or new construction.

Tulare County property values grew a steadier 5.35% in 2021, in line with the 5.11% and 4.97% increases in 2020 and 2019, respectively.

The assessment roll in Tulare County hit $40.37 billion, up from $38.32 billion in 2020.

Residential property comprises the biggest share of Tulare County assessments, worth $22.61 billion, growing 5.7% from the previous year. Apartment assessments grew 9.9% to $659.83 million. Unsecured property — aircraft, boats, vessels and personal property — grew 12.8% to $2.62 billion.

Visalia’s property values grew by 5.99% with 50,540 assessments. Tulare grew by 5.14% with 21,724 assessments. Woodlake grew the most by 12.17% with 2,003 assessments.

Madera County’s assessment roll grew 5.28% to $16.93 billion. The roll grew 5.93% in 2020.

Assessed values for residential property hit $9.01 billion for 48,105 parcels. In 2020, those values were $8.44 billion for 51,315 parcels.

Kings County plans to release its assessment roll to the public in August.

One county where some have lamented declining growth in property values is Kern County.

Despite a 36% average growth in surrounding counties going since 2014, Kern County property values have remained largely static, said Michael Turnipseed, executive director of the Kern County Taxpayers Association.

Cumulative change in assessed values since 2014 has only been 3.93%, he said.

Turnipseed said while assessed valuations have been up 37% in the County, oil and gas assessed property valuations have dropped 64%.

Because of these declines, general fund and fire fund dollars have decreased 64% for nearly $380 million lost.