Self-storage operator replaces its tax firm and saves $115,000 annually with a Base Year appeal

A national self-storage operator purchased a facility in Riverside County for about $15 million. After the sale, the Assessor’s office enrolled a value of roughly $25 million, $10 million more than the operator paid. Its previous tax representative filed a 2024 decline-in-value appeal, which produced no reduction. Frustrated with the results, the operator substituted CRE Tax Appeal as its agent. CRE Tax Appeal identified the real problem: the Base Year value itself was wrong. It pursued a Base Year appeal and presented the case to the Assessment Appeals Board. California law presumes that the purchase price in an arm’s-length sale is the property’s value, and the Board agreed, reducing the Base Year value to about $15 million. The decision saves the operator approximately $115,000 a year. Because the Base Year is the starting point for every future assessment, those savings continue for as long as the operator owns the facility.