Career Opportunity

Assessor-Recorder Office Specialist - Appraiser Technician - Office of the Assessor-Recorder (4214)

Recruitment: RTF0142192-01122285

Published: December 01, 2023

Apply using SmartRecruiters, the City and County of San Francisco's application portal.

About:

Appointment Type: Permanent Exempt: This position is excluded by the Charter from the competitive Civil Service examination process and shall serve at the discretion of the Appointing Officer. The duration of the appointment shall not exceed 36 months.

Application Opening: November 30, 2023

Application Deadline: Thursday, December 14, 2023

Compensation Range: $71,708 - $87,152 annually

Recruitment ID: RTF0142192-01122285

San Francisco is a vibrant and dynamic city, on the forefront of economic growth & innovation, urban development, arts & entertainment, as well as social issues & change. This rich tapestry of culture and ideas is sustained by our City's commitment to heighten the quality of life for the diverse population of San Franciscans and residents of the greater Bay Area. Our employees play an important role not only in making our City what it is today, but also in shaping the future of San Francisco.

Our Office

The Office of the Assessor-Recorder is responsible for carrying out property tax-related functions governed by the State Constitution and State and local laws. Our core responsibilities include locating all taxable property in the City and County of San Francisco, identifying ownership, establishing a taxable value, and applying all legal exemptions. Property broadly includes both real property and personal property owned by businesses. The Office of the Assessor-Recorder is also responsible for recording documents and maintaining those public records. Over 400 different types of documents are recorded annually, including deeds of trust, reconveyances, liens, and public marriage licenses. The Office is also responsible for collecting any transfer tax due upon a change in property ownership. The Office of the Assessor-Recorder strives to conduct our work with the core principals of professionalism and integrity. 

What We Do

We’re proud of our work to ensure the financial stability of San Francisco. This past year, our Office successfully enrolled property cumulatively valued at over $328 billion generating over $3.7 billion dollars in property tax revenue. This revenue is the single largest source of the City’s General Fund, representing a contribution of over $2.4 billion or nearly one-third in Fiscal Year 2020-21. These funds pay for crucial services ranging from public safety and education to neighborhood improvements and health and family support services.

Our success is a product of the Office’s continued focus and investment in our people, systems, services, and engagement. In recent years, we have taken significant steps toward modernizing our operations, including helping to lead a cross-departmental effort to modernize city-wide Property Assessment & Taxation Systems (Project SMART). When our new system goes live, it  will replace the legacy property assessment system we currently depend on to manage the City’s $328 billion in assessed property value, providing increased security, efficiency and service, including greater integration with other City systems like those managed by our sister finance departments at the Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector and the City Controller's Office.

Role description

Under supervision, performs routine field work for real, commercial or personal property for property tax assessment purposes; assists appraisers by gathering data, evaluating property characteristics by inspecting the property, and making recommendations for assessment; performs customer service duty; and performs other related duties as required.

The Appraiser Technician is characterized by the responsibility to perform routine, technical and support duties that directly relieve professional, appraisal personnel of the more routine and standardized technical field work and office functions exclusive of valuation. The Appraiser Technician is distinguished from the Appraiser Trainee class with the former performing technical responsibilities requiring the exercise of less independent judgment and interpretive ability. The Appraiser Trainee class is the entry level class into the professional Appraiser series. The Appraiser Technician class is not a guaranteed progressive underfill for the Appraiser Trainee class. Appraiser Trainees are selected through a competitive recruitment process.

Depending on the area of assignment, duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Inspect interiors and exteriors of buildings and recommend the classification and/or quality of structures and other appurtenances to the land; measure, photograph, and diagram the improvements for the property appraisal record; and make related calculations.
2. Gather data regarding new construction and verify addresses, plan types, and percentage of completion. Communication with other City and County Departments to verify information and sources.
3. Prepare data for minor construction which may include interior remodeling and additions, pool, patio covers and enclosures for valuation by an appraiser.
4. Download plans and final reports from various sources, review, update, and sort them for the appraisal staff; use specified scale rule to identify measurements on submitted plans.
5. Apply assessment laws, regulations, and procedures and explain these to the property owners, contractors, real estate agents, and the general public in person or over the phone.
6. Gather income/expense, market, and cost data and prepare it for use by appraisal staff; enter information into databases maintained by ASR.
7. Perform field canvassing and inspections to identify new businesses, changes in business assessments, and identify and record property characteristics.
8. Assist with compilation of data for possessory interests, tax certifications, Prop 19 value certifications, and tracking of new construction.
9. May include additional duties as assigned.

How to qualify

These minimum qualifications establish the education, training, experience, special skills and/or license(s) which are required for employment in the classification. Please note, additional qualifications (i.e., special conditions) may apply to a particular position and will be stated on the exam/job announcement.

Education:

Experience:

Two (2) years of progressively responsible office support experience that required the use of data management systems, researching documents, and extensive contact with the public. At least one (1) year of the experience should have been at a level comparable to the class of Clerk in the City/County of San Francisco.

License and Certification:

Substitution:

1) Completion of coursework from an accredited college or university may substitute for the above-required experience on a year-for-year basis, where thirty (30) semester or forty-five (45) quarter units is equivalent to one (1) year; OR

2) Completion of a clerical training program (at least two-hundred forty (240) hours) may substitute for six (6) months of the above-required experience.

One year of full-time employment is equivalent to 2000 hours. (2000 hours of qualifying work experience is based on a 40-hour work week.) Any overtime hours that you work above forty (40) hours per week are not included in the calculation to determine full-time employment.

Desirable Qualifications

1. Two years of experience in one or more of the following: real or personal property appraisal, building contracting, building cost estimating, or building inspection.
2. Two years of clerical or technical experience in an Assessor's Office or in the Property Taxes Department of the Board of Equalization. This experience must have included compiling and maintaining records in support of the appraisal process, or supplying services and information to the public and other governmental agencies including answering routine inquiries on property tax assessments, appraisal procedures, recording laws, County Clerk functions, fees, and current laws.
3. Graduation from an accredited college or university with a Bachelor's degree, preferably in business or public administration, economics, finance, accounting, auditing, or records management.
4. Knowledge of: Property assessment procedures and terminology; building cost estimating; the reading of blueprints; modern office procedures and standard office equipment.
5. Ability to: Prepare technical reports on facts pertinent to the determination of real and personal property values using a variety of computer software programs; assist professional staff by researching technical and financial data; study and learn property tax laws; effectively assist the general public in questions concerning assessment and property evaluation procedures; measure and draw structures in the field and make related calculations; use electronic drawing program to draw structures from blueprints; identify business property assessments in the field by communicating effectively with business owners and staff.

Verification of Education and Experience

Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. If education verification is required, information on how to verify education requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at https://sfdhr.org/how-verify-education-requirements.

Note: Falsifying one’s education, training, or work experience or attempted deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco.

All work experience, education, training and other information substantiating how you meet the minimum qualifications must be included on your application by the filing deadline. Information submitted after the filing deadline will not be considered in determining whether you meet the minimum qualifications.

Resumes will not be accepted in lieu of a completed City and County of San Francisco application.

Applications completed improperly may be cause for ineligibility, disqualification or may lead to lower scores.

What else should I know?

Selection Procedures

Applications will be screened and evaluated for qualifying experience. Additional screening mechanisms may be implemented in order to determine candidate’s qualifications. Only qualified candidates whose experience best meets the needs of the position will be selected to continue on to additional steps in the selection process, which may include an interview. Applicants meeting the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement. Qualified applicants with disabilities requiring reasonable accommodation in the selection process must contact the Agency by phone at (415) 554-6000 or, if hearing impaired at (415) 554-6015 (TTY).

Additional Information Regarding Employment with the City and County of San Francisco:

• Information About The Hiring Process
• Conviction History
• Employee Benefits Overview  
• Equal Employment Opportunity 
• Disaster Service Worker
• ADA Accommodation
• Veterans Preference
• Seniority Credit in Promotional Exams
• Right to Work
• Copies of Application Documents
• Diversity Statement

HOW TO APPLY

Applications for City and County of San Francisco jobs are only accepted through an online process. Visit  https://careers.smartrecruiters.com/CityAndCountyOfSanFrancisco1/ and begin the application process.

• Select the “I’m Interested” button and follow instructions on the screen

Applicants may be contacted by email about this recruitment and, therefore, it is their responsibility to ensure that their registered email address is accurate and kept up-to-date. Also, applicants must ensure that email from CCSF is not blocked on their computer by a spam filter. To prevent blocking, applicants should set up their email to accept CCSF mail from the following addresses (@sfgov.org, @sfdpw.org, @sfport.com, @flysfo.com, @sfwater.org, @sfdph.org, @asianart.org, @sfmta.com, @sfpl.org, @dcyf.org, @first5sf.org, @famsf.org, @ccsf.edu, @smartalerts.info, and @smartrecruiters.com).

Applicants will receive a confirmation email that their online application has been received in response to every announcement for which they file. Applicants should retain this confirmation email for their records. Failure to receive this email means that the online application was not submitted or received.

If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the human resources analyst, Simone Goldman by email at simone.goldman@sfgov.org.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.