BOMA San Francisco Members Meet with San Francisco Assessor Carmen Chu

BOMA San Francisco Members:

Newly appointed San Francisco Assessor Recorder Carmen Chu spoke to BOMA leaders recently.  

Ken Cleaveland, Carmen Chu and John Bozeman

The Assessor-Recorder is responsible for equitably and effectively administering the property assessment system of the City and County of San Francisco. The duties of the Assessor-Recorder include locating all taxable property in San Francisco and identifying the ownership, establishing a taxable value for all property subject to property taxation and listing the value of all property on the assessment roll. The Assessor-Recorder maintains public records, conducts fair and efficient assessments and ensures equality in all assessments.

Click here to review BOMA San Francisco's Economic Impact Fact Sheet that details our members' contribution - including property and transfer tax revenue - to the City and County of San Francisco.

The topics discussed at today's meeting included:

• Electronic recording program for real property records;
• Reducing the historic levels of reassessment requests - approximately 6,000 annually;
• Reducing the backlog and time necessary to record and reassess property sales;
• Expanding the number of Assessment Appeals Board meetings;
• Creating a common checklist for commercial property sales and reassessments;
• Improving the technology in her department;
• Focusing on customer service for all San Franciscans;

As a former member of the Board of Supervisors, Assessor Chu has worked on policy issues with BOMA San Francisco for many years.  Our members look forward to Chu's leadership of this essential department.

About Carmen Chu

Carmen Chu was elected to the Board of Supervisors in November 2008 and November 2010 to serve as the City’s representative to the Sunset/Parkside District after being appointed to serve in September 2007 by Mayor Gavin Newsom.

As member of the Board of Supervisors representing District 4, Carmen Chu served as Chair of the Board’s Budget & Finance Committee for FY 2011-2012 and FY 2012-2013. Together, with labor, community advocates, City departments, and the Mayor’s Office, the Board of Supervisors were able to agree on a $6.83 billion spending plan that provided funding for the most vital City services and closed a $380 million General Fund budget deficit.

During her time on the Board, Chu worked on legislation to encourage more companies to do business with the City by streamlining the City’s contracting process; provided protections to tenants who are victims of domestic violence; strengthened regulations, coordinated enforcement and expanded community review of proposed massage establishments; and encouraged small, local business participation in City projects.

Chu holds a Bachelor’s degree from Occidental College in public policy and a Master’s degree from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley.