Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone said Thursday that his office will review nearly 200,000 residential properties to determine if they are eligible for a temporary reduction in assessed values.

Stone's office will review all transactions that have occurred since Jan. 1, 2000, to determine if the market value, as of Jan. 1, 2009, has fallen below the original assessment, which is typically the purchase price.

"Obviously, not every community is the same," Stone said. "The value decline in Palo Alto and Los Gatos is vastly different from the much steeper degree of decline in Gilroy, Morgan Hill, east San Jose or Milpitas.

"While we plan to review properties with transactions dating back to 2000, most reductions will probably reflect purchase transactions which occurred between 2005 and 2008."

Stone said that property owners are urged to wait until his office completes its review in late June and sends notification cards to all 460,000 property owners for their September tax bill.

-- Don Kazak

— Don Kazak