Santa Clarita residents paid $148 million less in property taxes this year than last, as property values declined throughout Los Angeles County.

Despite the loss in tax revenue, the city remains the sixth most valuable for the county, according the County Assessors’ annual tax roll released on Tuesday. Residents paid about $21 billion dollars in property taxes in 2010 — a 0.7-percent drop from the previous year.

The drop in revenue is about what Santa Clarita officials expected, said Carla Magana, the city’s finance manager.

Officials projected the drop in property tax money would be 1 percent when they were determining the city’s budget for the current fiscal year, she said.

Overall, county residents paid $18 billion less in 2010 than in 2009, a 1.67-percent drop.

The loss in property tax money is due primarily to the falling value of homes, said County Assessor Robert Quon. On average, the value of a single-family home declined by $162,000 and condominium dropped $133,000, according to a statement.

The County assessor is required by Proposition 13, which was passed by California voters in 1978, to determine home values each year. 

Quon said he expected the decline in property value to continue in 2011 but said he didn’t want to speculate by how much.