Daily Business Report: Monday, July 18, 2022
San Diego County tax roll hits record high $679 billion
The assessed value of all taxable property in San Diego County rose to a record $679.15 billion in 2022, reflecting an 8.27 percent increase (or $51.8 billion) over last year, according to County Assessor Ernest J. Dronenburg Jr.
The 2022 assessment roll reflected a record high property tax savings of over $260 million for taxpayers. The outreach program, led by Chief Deputy Assessor / Taxpayer Advocate Jordan Marks, qualified over 469,962 homeowners for $32.8 million and a record high savings of $18.7 million in property tax savings for 12,760 San Diego County disabled veterans.
Marks led key outreach to affordable housing and homeless service providers that resulted in a record number of 5,254 nonprofit entities, saving over $210 million in property taxes for organizations that provide affordable housing, senior low-income housing, homeless services, schools, churches, museums, and other charitable organizations.
Of the 18 cities in the county, the assessed value of property in the City of San Diego was the largest, totalling $326 billion, an increase of $24.7 billion or 8.23 percent over last year. Carlsbad was the next highest with a valuation of $41.6 billion, an 8.13 percent increase. Chula Vista was third highest with a valuation of $38 billion for an 8.14 percent increase.
With rising home values, property tax
breaks shift burden to new home buyers
In San Diego, the owner of a newly purchased, median-priced home paid more than $9,000 in property taxes last year, about $3,400 more than somebody who has owned an identical home for 14 years, the average duration of home ownership in the city, according to a new study from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Minnesota Center for Fiscal Excellence.
A result of the assessment limit contained in California’s Proposition 13, the disparity in tax bills for new and longtime homeowners in San Diego grew by $600 last year alone as property values increased, and it has grown by more than $2,000 in five years, according to the 50-State Property Tax Comparison Study.
Assessment limits restrict the growth in the assessed value of a home for tax purposes, usually allowing a property to be assessed at its full market value only after it is sold. Over time, as the value of a home increases, its owner receives an increasingly large tax break. New and recent homebuyers make up for these tax breaks by paying higher bills. San Diegois one of 29 large cities with assessment limits analyzed in the study. In these cities, longtime homeowners receive an average tax break worth $1,600, a 30 percent discount compared with tax bills of new homeowners.
Illumina to pay $325 million under settlement with
BGI and affiliates, ending multi-year legal battle
genomeweb
San Diego-based Illumina said on Thursday that it has reached a settlement and licensing agreement with China’s BGI and its affiliates, including MGI Tech, that will end the multi-year legal battle between the two sequencing firms in the US.
The settlement ends all outstanding litigation, including at least four lawsuits in US district courts and four pending appeals in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, concerning patent infringement and antitrust allegations.
Under the terms of the agreement, Illumina will pay $325 million to Complete Genomics, the US-based subsidiary of Shenzhen, China-based MGI Tech. In addition, Illumina received “a fully paid-up license” to two-color sequencing from BGI. In May, a Delaware jury ruled that Illumina’s two-color sequencing technology — featured in its two most commercially important sequencing instrument lines, NextSeq and NovaSeq — had infringed two patents held by Complete Genomics and awarded the firm $333.8 million in damages.
Plan to build Topgolf on San Diego waterfront moves ahead
The popular sports entertainment brand Topgolf has entered into exclusive negotiations with the Port of San Diego in a bid to bring its high-tech driving range to East Harbor Island.
While the exact location is yet to be determined, the brand, owned by Carlsbad-based Callaway Golf, was given tentative approval by Port of San Diego commissioners to move ahead with the potential $40 million facility.
The company’s plan calls for a 68,000-square-foot building on an 8.5-acre site with 102 hitting bays as well as a restaurant and a bar. It’s a concept that has been years in the making for San Diego and it comes as the Topgolf brand has expanded in markets throughout the U.S. Its most recent California opening happened in mid-April in El Segundo along the Pacific Coast Highway, the company’s 76th outdoor venue.
UC San Diego raises $3.05 billion
as landmark fundraising campaign ends
The University of California San Diego has reached the conclusion of its landmark Campaign for UC San Diego, raising a total of $3.05 billion in philanthropic support over a span of 10 years. The funds have spurred a significant campus transformation, increased access with scholarships and fellowships for the next generation of leaders and expanded the university’s positive global impact with research that is addressing some of the world’s most pressing concerns.
Founded in 1960, UC San Diego is the nation’s youngest university to reach a multibillion-dollar fundraising goal in a single campaign, raising $1 billion more than the original $2 billion goal. More than 163,000 supporters designated charitable gifts and grants to over 450 different areas across campus, including UC San Diego Health and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. In the final year of the Campaign, which concluded on June 30, 2022, the campus raised a record-breaking $420 million, setting an upward trajectory for continued transformation and impact.
Tina M. King named president of San Diego
College of Continuing Education
San Diego College of Continuing Education (SDCCE) welcomed Tina M. King as its second female, Afro-Latino president since Lillian Beam in 1990. A humanitarian academic leader, King’s life’s work driven by social justice reform mirrors SDCCE’s mission to provide accessible, equitable, and innovative quality education and career training to adult students and its role in American civil rights. She succeeds Carlos Cortez, who became chancellor of the San Diego Community College District.
Prior to her arrival at SDCCE, King served as assistant superintendent/vice president of student affairs at Southwestern College, interim dean of instruction and student services and director of institutional research and planning for North Orange Continuing Education in Anaheim, and as a student affairs officer and student affairs adviser in the Educational Leadership department at California State University, Fullerton.
County names first director for Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs
After a national recruitment, the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency has selected Lucero Chavez Basilio, an experienced representative for immigrants and refugees, as the first director for the County Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs.
A bilingual Spanish speaker and attorney, Chavez Basilio has spent more than 10 years representing immigrant and refugee children and families in immigration proceedings and in humanitarian and family-based petitions. She has worked with city councils, community organizations and law enforcement agencies throughout Southern California to create and implement pro immigrant policies and programs
Chavez Basilio grew up in a working-class immigrant neighborhood in South East Los Angeles and is the daughter of Mexican immigrants. She holds a B.A. in American Literature and Culture and Chicana/o Studies from UCLA and a J.D. from the UC Berkeley School of Law.
The County Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs is located within the County’s Health and Human Services Agency’s Department of Homeless Solutions and Equitable Communities.
Successful Apprenticeship Readiness Program
expands to Southwestern College
The High Road Construction Apprenticeship Readiness Program that successfully placed 97 percent of San Diego College of Continuing Education graduates into construction careers and related college programs, and 68 percent into apprenticeships, will expand to Southwestern College in the fall. The expansion was announced by the San Diego County Building & Construction Trades Council and the San Diego Workforce Partnership.
“There are millions of jobs in the skilled trades, but millions of workers have never seen themselves in these jobs because they’ve never seen someone like them in these jobs,” said Carol Kim, business manager of the San Diego Building & Construction Trades. “Southwestern serves a diverse student population—nearly ninety percent students of color. On behalf of the member unions of the San Diego Building & Construction Trades, we can’t wait to welcome your students into rewarding careers as union workers.”
Community input solicited for public art for
Southeastern San Diego Live Well Center
The Southeastern San Diego Live Well Center’s Public Art Advisory Committee is seeking community input on artwork for the new facility. Starting this week, people will have the chance to weigh in on which public art submissions should be chosen to grace the interior and exterior of the building.
The public can see and comment on the proposed concepts on display at the nearby Malcolm X Library and Jackie Robinson YMCA during regular business hours. The concepts will also be on display at several community events and meetings taking place over the next few weeks:
July 18 – Chollas Valley Planning Group (virtual community meeting) at 6:30 p.m.
July 25 – Central Region Leadership Meeting (virtual community meeting) from 1:30 -3:30 p.m.
July 26 – In-person feedback opportunity at Malcolm X Library from 5 to 7 p.m.
July 28 – Virtual session with invited artist, link to be posted here
July 30 – Project New Village Health & Healing Summerfest from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
July 30 – Leon Williams Recognition Event from 2 to 6 p.m. at the County Administration Center, 1600 Pacific Highway, San Diego
July 13 – 31- Review the concepts and take the survey online
Rendering of Southeastern San Diego Live Well Center
General Atomics awarded $34.6 million by U.S. Navy
The U.S. Navy has awrded Poway-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems a $34.6 million modification to a previously awarded contract to provide additional services for the U.S. Marine Corps’ MQ-9 Reaper aircraft and a dual control mobile ground control station. The work is expected to be completed in July 2023.
San Diego biotech startup ViaCyte acquired for $320 million
San Diego biotech ViaCyte, which develops cell replacement therapies to allow people with type 1 diabetes to reduce or eliminate insulin injections, has inked a deal with Vertex Pharmaceuticals for $320 million. The acquisition will merge the companies’ stem cell research efforts to find a “functional cure” for type 1 diabetes.
Asurion Tech Repair & Solutions opens in Mission Valley
A new electronics repair shop, Asurion Tech Repair & Solutions, has opened in Mission Valley at 5658 Mission Center Road, located in Friars Mission Center. The store offers professional fixes for most consumer electronics, from smartphones, tablets, and computers to game consoles, smart speakers, drones, and more.
While common repairs include cracked screens, battery issues, and water damage, the company’s repair experts have fixed millions of devices and can help with most any tech mishap, and many basic repairs can be completed in 45 minutes or less.
The store is locally owned by Terra and Nye Arzo.
The store’s expert repair technicians fix all kinds of technology, regardless of make or model, and the store is an authorized repair provider for Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel smartphones. Customers can book a repair appointment online or stop by the store for walk-in service. The store offers free, no-obligation diagnostics on all gadgets, as well as a 1-year limited warranty on all repairs. It even offers a price match guarantee on any local competitor’s regularly published price for the same repair.
