SEE UPDATE BELOW — New deadline May 15

By Joel P. Engardio

More than 500 homeowners in San Francisco joined our petition asking the governor, state and local legislators, the county treasurer — anyone who might be in a position to help — to do something about the looming April 10 property tax payment deadline.

Now, something has been done. 

Many middle-income homeowners who lost their jobs during the coronavirus shutdown faced a giant tax bill they can’t pay. While federal and state income tax payments were moved from April to July for everyone, homeowners did not get added relief — until now.

San Francisco homeowners now have until May 15 to pay their property tax.

It’s not a full win because July would be better and most of the state still has to pay on April 10. But it will bring significant relief to San Francisco families, and we’ll take it.

How we got here
It wasn’t easy getting politicians to take up the cause of struggling homeowners and find a way to give them relief.

After we launched our petition March 19, San Francisco Treasurer Jose Cisneros issued a public statement March 20 encouraging people to pay their property taxes on time if they can, because “the revenue helps keep the government running and providing vital services that the public relies on, especially in times like these.”

He instructed people suffering hardship to submit an online penalty waiver. But the waiver included caveats like a six week review process along with accrued interest and penalties for denied requests.

It didn’t feel like much help.

Despite the real hardship many homeowners are experiencing, most local politicians initially passed the buck regarding the property tax payment date. “It’s a state law,” they said. “And there’s nothing I can do about it.”

They were right. According to CalMatters: “Property tax deadlines are set by state law. The only way to alter them is either by legislative act — impossible now that state lawmakers are sheltering-in-place along with most everyone else — or by executive order.”

Our petition asked Governor Gavin Newsom to use his executive powers to help homeowners, but he didn’t respond. 

We weren’t the only ones who wrote to the governor. The California Association of County Treasurers and Tax Collectors took the opposite view and sent a letter asking Newsom to keep the April 10 deadline. They were worried about a lack of cash flow when local governments are spending vast resources to respond to the pandemic.

Governor Newsom referenced the letter from county treasurers in a news conference this week: “The county officers...requested that we not impose any mandate from on high unless we are prepared to backfill the impact of that,” Newsom said. “Millions of homeowners in the state are feeling that anxiety about April 10. We are going to see what the options are and what we can do to help. I don’t want to over-promise.”

Lack of will
Why the lack of will among politicians to find a speedy way to help homeowners?

Money is one reason. A large portion of City Hall’s $13 billion budget comes from property taxes. Pushing back payment of those taxes doesn’t mean City Hall will take in less money, but it could result in cash flow issues. It’s easier for elected officials to rely on property tax income rather than make controversial decisions around department cuts and bureaucratic waste.

Yet plenty of homeowners are not rich. They are immigrants who put their life savings in a home and are cash poor. They are young families who barely managed to buy a home and pay market rate property tax, which is a huge sum when living paycheck to paycheck.

A technical solution
As the April 10 deadline drew closer, the reality that homeowners were suffering was hard for supervisors to ignore. San Francisco followed the example of some other counties and decided to delay payment of property taxes based on a technicality.

Here’s how, according to a statement by California Association of County Treasurers and Tax Collectors: “If you cannot pay because the office is closed, the next day the office is open is the day it is due under Revenue and Taxation Code 2619, the tax collector will waive penalties and interest as long as the bill is paid the day the office reopens.” 

City Hall is closed to the public until at least May 4, the day San Francisco’s shelter in place order is set to expire. Technically, the tax collection office in City Hall is also closed. 

Of course, the tax collector is still virtually open for business as it continues to take payments online and by mail. So it’s a bit of a head scratcher to figure out the meaning of “closed” in this scenario.

Read the transcript of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors discussing this issue March 31 and you will see they were even confused at times.

Yet they figured it out and passed a resolution to officially “close” the physical tax collection office until May 4. And that allowed Treasurer Cisnernos to announce the new property tax deadline is May 4. 

If you can’t pay by then, you will have to submit a penalty waiver request. Note that it still requires documentation and you can accrue additional penalties and interest if the request is denied.

A much-needed win
You’d think supervisors would have wasted no time issuing statements galore touting how they helped homeowners. But little was said or explained, and Cisneros waited three days after the supervisors passed their resolution before announcing the May 4th date change.

Thank you to everyone who signed the petition and helped speak out for San Francisco families and homeowners. Your voice was ultimately heard. Action was taken to provide some relief. This is a win at a time when we need it most.

UPDATE: The property tax deadline is now May 15. When San Francisco’s shelter in place order was extended to May 31, supervisors passed a resolution to extend the property tax payment deadline to May 15. But there will be no further property tax extensions, regardless when the shelter in place order is lifted. See the tax collector’s official statement. There was some improvement with the lack of communication from City Hall as officials tried to figure out the next property tax deadline. This time, the tax collector’s website was updated with the new information two days after supervisors took action. Last time, it took three days. Governor Newsom also signed an Executive Order on May 6 that waives penalties for property taxes paid after the deadline until May 6, 2021 “for taxpayers who demonstrate they have experienced financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Joel Engardio is a candidate for supervisor on San Francisco’s westside in District 7. Learn more about his views on local issues at engardio.com/issues