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Assessor-recorder resists BLA cut on managerial reclassification; supervisors debate trade-offs
Summary
Assessor-Recorder Joaquin Torres urged the committee to retain an upward substitution to a manager classification, arguing it supports workload, backlog reduction and a revenue pipeline; the Budget and Legislative Analyst recommended denying the change to restrain management growth.
Assessor-Recorder Joaquin Torres told the Budget and Appropriations Committee on June 18 that a proposed upward substitution — moving one principal administrative analyst to a manager classification — is essential to the office’s capacity to handle appeals and the implementation of its new assessment system.
The Budget and Legislative Analyst recommended denying the single upward substitution as an unnecessary management-level increase and cited citywide trends of faster growth in management positions than in nonmanagement roles. Dan Goncher of the BLA said the office’s request would increase management ranks and noted the city has seen nonmanagement positions grow around 6% while management roles grew about 20% in recent years.
Why it matters: The assessor-recorder’s office argued the substitution supports a public-service division that responds to appeals and trains staff on the department’s new SMART assessment system. The office also said additional staffing investments could improve revenue collection; supervisors discussed a separate ask for about six FTEs that the chair said could generate substantial first-year revenue.
“We find that the recommendation would weaken the structural integrity…that we've, decisions that we've been making for this office to allow us to be effective,” Assessor-Recorder Joaquin Torres said of the BLA recommendation. Torres said the position supports frontline staff, speeds service and helps manage a historic rise in appeals.
Chair Connie Chan said she will generally oppose upward substitutions and vacant management hires as a budget principle this cycle but signaled support for exploring a larger targeted investment to address the appeals backlog. She noted an earlier figure discussed for six FTEs was approximately $1,600,000 and that initial revenue projections could exceed $17,000,000 in the first year if the investment improved collections.
President Rafael Mendelmann and other supervisors said they value the assessor’s ability to generate revenue but asked for continued conversation with the chair about trade-offs between headcount, management growth and revenue opportunities.
The committee did not take an immediate vote; the item remained a policy-level disagreement the BLA flagged for the full Board of Supervisors to decide.
