Taxpayers will receive their county property tax bills by Nov. 1. Taxpayers who own property within in the Las Virgenes Unified School District or the Oak Park Unified School District will see parcel taxes on their bills.

A parcel tax is a direct assessment that is a fixed, lump sum amount charged against each parcel within a district regardless of value of the property. Parcel taxes expire after a certain time. Four to eight years is common.

The law provides that school district or community college district parcel taxes may have opt-out provisions for certain taxpayers. Seniors 65 or over who reside in property that they own within the district may be permitted to opt out from paying the parcel tax.

Additionally, owner-residents on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and taxpayers who own adjacent properties may also be eligible to opt out.

Taxpayers within the Las Virgenes Unified School District currently have a parcel tax of $98 added to their tax bill each year under LVUSD Measure E. So, a senior citizen who owns a condo assessed at $ 200,000 will pay at least $2,098 in property taxes, comprised of the general tax at 1 percent of assessed value plus voted bond indebtedness and parcel taxes, including the LVUSD parcel tax. If the taxpayer opts out, the bill will be $98 less.

Taxpayers on SSI or who own adjacent parcels also may opt out of the Measure E parcel tax. But many qualified taxpayers do not opt out because they want to support the purpose of the parcel tax or they may not know about the opt-out provision. Fewer than 1,000 taxpayers have opted out of the LVUSD parcel tax on the upcoming bill.

The Oak Park School District currently has a parcel tax of $197. Seniors can opt out of this tax also.

All parcel taxes, including school district and community college district parcel taxes, require at least 66 percent voter approval. Statistics show that historically about 54 percent of parcel taxes that have been put up for election statewide have passed.

Only school district and community college district parcel taxes may have opt-out provisions. Polls have shown that that the opt-out provision may be a factor in getting voters to approve of the taxes.

There is proposed legislation to allow school districts and community college districts to expand the opt-out provisions to taxpayers receiving Social Security Disability Insurance.

Interested taxpayers should contact the applicable district about opt- out eligibility and application provisions. An application must be submitted annually, usually in May or June. However, some districts have provisions for filing late. The district contact telephone numbers are listed on tax bill. They are also available from the county Auditor-Controller’s office.

Parcel taxes cannot be appealed through an assessment appeal, but the assessed value of property can be appealed.

The general tax and the voted indebtedness bond tax rates are added together and are applied to the assessed value. The general tax is fixed at 1 percent and the voted indebtedness bonds rates vary by the tax rate area of the property.

The deadline to appeal the assessed value for a decline in value is Sept. 15 in Ventura County and Nov. 30 in Los Angeles County.

Debra C. Cohen, an Agoura Hills real estate and tax lawyer, can be reached at AttorneyDebraC. Cohen@gmail.com.