Committee endorses assessor’s proposal to raise first‑page recording fee; amendment corrects reference

The Budget and Finance Committee reviewed a resolution to increase the assessor‑recorder’s base fee for recording and indexing the first page of each instrument to $10 under California Government Code Section 27361. Assessor Filson said Senate Bill 676 (2009) allows the county to increase the fee and that the county’s estimated average processing cost per filing is about $24, leaving a subsidy even at the higher fee.

Filson said the proposed increase would move San Francisco closer to neighboring counties’ fee structures; he listed Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin and Santa Clara among peers whose combined filing fees range from the mid‑teens to the high teens when ancillary fees are included. The assessor estimated the county would recover roughly $10 per filing and would continue to subsidize about $14 per file based on current cost calculations.

The committee considered a non‑substantive 'amendment of the whole' to correct a fee reference in the text (a typographical error changing a reference from $3 to $4); the City Attorney clarified the change corrected wording and did not alter the substantive fee proposal. Budget analyst Mr. Rose estimated the proposed base‑fee increase would generate approximately $1,200,000 in additional annual revenues, producing a total base‑fee revenue projection of a little over $2 million. No members of the public spoke on the item.

An amendment of the whole was accepted and Supervisor Kim indicated co‑sponsorship for the legislation on behalf of the assessor. The committee forwarded the resolution with recommendation to the Board of Supervisors.