The Sunset Connection - Perspectives from SF's Sunset Neighborhood

Assessing How SF’s Assessor-Recorder, Joaquin Torres, Works For You

• Jessica J. Ho

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In this conversation, Joaquin shares how his upbringing inspired his work in public service and what the new SMART Property System means for homeowners, professionals, and the city’s future. Plus, a few of his favorite Sunset hangouts. 

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The Sunset Connection — exploring the stories and histories that connect us.

Jessica J. Ho:

All right. Welcome back to the Sunset Connection. If you own a home in San Francisco, chances are the name Joaquin Taurus has crossed your path. As the city's ascensor recorder, Joaquin's office decides what our home's taxable value is, keeps the record straight, and works to fix a system that has been fantastic for decades. And right now, this office is at a turning point. But behind the bureaucracy is a believer in art, in equity, and in community. He's a lifelong public servant, an advocate for immigrant, arts, and small business communities, and a sunset neighbor who seems to bike almost everywhere. Most of us never think about what the accessory quarter's office does until it affects us directly. So I sat down with San Francisco accessory quarter Joaquin Torres to talk about what's changing, why it matters, and how government can actually serve the people it represents. Welcome, assessory quarter, Joaquin Torres.

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Oh, thank you so much for having me, Jessica. It's great to be here.

Jessica J. Ho:

Wonderful. So long before you were at San Francisco's assessory quarter, you were just a child, like all of us, right? So let's get into it. You grew up in California, but not in San Francisco. Can you tell us a little bit more about your childhood and how that really shaped who you are and why you became a leader in public service?

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Yeah, well, I mean, San Francisco's always been a part of my life. And at different times in my life, my family lived primarily in Los Angeles. But when I was uh very, very young, uh, I lived in Sacramento. In fact, one of the times uh in Sacramento, I lived across the street from San Francisco's uh representative, Art Agnos, at the time, before he was mayor. Uh so he and my father served in the legislature together. And then also because my father's district was in Los Angeles, and my mom was a uh reporter, both in Sacramento for a time, but then also in Los Angeles as well, we would uh drive up for the summers and we would always stop in uh in San Francisco. We'd always stop off in a couple of neighborhoods that I remember very well. The first one was Chinatown. Uh we went to Cafe Restaurant right there on Grant in California. That was my grandfather's favorite place to go. And uh and then also North Beach, of course, in uh Fisherman's Wharf, uh clam chatter with my grandparents. Um, and it was uh there uh in LA uh that I got involved, of course, in uh in the arts when I was in high school as I was studying, and uh I really found my my initial calling uh in the arts uh and the people that made sense to me at the time um through performance uh and arts in my in my high school. I had a a great teacher named Father Tilly uh who really welcomed me in uh one of my first show, I think, was The Music Man, uh just in the chorus, but I remember that it was a a beginning of a big, big part of my of my life. And then Sacramento was was very different because uh I was in middle school there, uh, my father was in the legislature, a much more rural uh experience. We lived right on the river road, and my next door neighbors were the Herringers who were farmers, and the entire backyard was all of their farmland. I think it also informed me because there were so many farm workers' children that I was uh in class with, and the level of separation uh at that time uh and the remarks that my teachers would make uh to the farm workers' kids who were in the sitting in the back of the class, Latinos, uh, speaking Spanish, and I remember very clearly uh this first sense of separation when the teacher would say, you know, we only speak English here, and it wasn't exactly friendly. It was uh very much around uh um not allowing people to be themselves uh in a school environment. There wasn't this sense uh in the way that it was for my aunt as a bilingual school teacher in Calistoga. It wasn't uh the same embrace uh uh of uh of culture in that way. And maybe they had the best of intentions, but I remember that struck me very much so uh in shaping the distance between how we educate our children uh and how we choose to treat them.

Jessica J. Ho:

Growing up between so many worlds must have really shaped how you see identity today. How do you think culture and belonging, especially for communities of color, should be recognized or celebrated in San Francisco right now?

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Communities of color want to see ourselves reflected and respected in the communities that we live in, and that means the entire city. Uh which is why so much of the art or representation in all of its forms, uh whether it's in business or media or commerce, small business, large business, arts, culture, um, are so deeply important because uh otherwise we can feel that we are pushed to the fringes or it creates this pressure on us as if we are uh insignificant and don't matter. Uh and I think uh a lot of the anger uh and the fear uh that we are feeling in this political environment today nationally is grounded in that of where where am I? Where do I have the right to be seen? Uh do I have the right to exist in your eyes, uh America? And uh I think that is something that we are constantly pushing for so that we can be uh ourselves, we can reflect our culture, we can reflect our upbringing together with everyone else's, um, so that we can make space for each other in a very real way. You know, I love my apple pie, uh I loved my garlic festivals, uh, I live my pear festivals in Cortland, uh, in the farm areas uh of California and Sacramento where I grew up, but I also love my birya, I love my menudo. Um, and being in a place like San Francisco offers us the opportunity, I believe anyway, to celebrate so many disparate and diverse cultures that truly um makes us a very special place, even though we are a small city by comparison with some of the other larger cities in California and America.

Jessica J. Ho:

Absolutely. Joaquin's background explains a lot about how he leads, he doesn't just talk about property values and assessments, he talks about people, families, and the neighborhoods they live in. So let's get into it. What does assessor recorder actually do and why does it matter so much to the city's future?

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Yeah, so so as I like to tell everyone, uh I, Joaquin Torres, am the assessor, your assessor recorder here in San Francisco. And I'm the one uh through my staff uh who sends you that notice of value. It's not a bill, it's a notice uh of value that lets you know what the value of your property is. Our core responsibility, there are nearly 212,000 parcels in the city and county of San Francisco. So if you imagine um your favorite view in San Francisco, at the topography, what do you see? You see extraordinary views, but you see so much land uh and all of the buildings uh on top of them, all of that has value. Schools, hospitals, universities, apartment buildings, single family homes, commercial buildings, malls. All of that property uh has value. And per state law, which is what governs the work that we do as assessor recorder, um uh all our responsibility is to ensure that all of that value is recorded and then, of course, or established, and then all of the exemptions as uh provided by law are provided. So for those hospitals and schools, for those nonprofit religious institutions, uh all of those are exempt for their nonprofit use. Uh, and so our responsibility is to ensure that we can value all of those properties, uh, and that ends up providing the single most stable and secure source of funding for the city, uh over $4 billion, uh, 4.2 billion uh currently for San Francisco. And so that's a little over 33% of the city's entire budget, the majority of which comes to support our general fund. Uh, the other portion goes to support our schools, about 34%. Um, and the remaining um uh tiny percentage of one and two percent goes to support BART, Bay Area Rapid Transit, our regional transportation system, and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. So it is a very overlooked but fundamental and important function for the city. Everything that we do in terms of creating that value begins the process of investment that allows San Francisco to thrive. So for all of that value that gets recorded that ultimately becomes the basis for your property tax obligations, all of that eventually supports our parks, our schools, our streets, our roads, services for affordable housing, for mental health services, for homelessness, for the arts, for small businesses. It is extremely important to motivate all of us in the city and our staff to think about what the end result is, is that fair and accurate assessment leads to a thriving city.

Jessica J. Ho:

When assessments fall behind or records aren't accurate, that funding gets delayed. When Joaquin took office in 2022, he inherited a backlog in an outdated technology system, a relic from more than 20 years ago.

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Prior to the pandemic, we had around 1400, 1200 appeals on an annual basis. We knew because of the economic impacts and our the relationship to the economy uh and and our office, that when the economy is doing well, we are trucking along, we are recording more properties, there is more transfer tax, which is the only tax uh we are responsible for administering uh at the at the local level. Um uh we see uh transfer tax uh given its volatile nature in good times it rises, in bad times it drops. It's just simply an indicator of the market. Um we have seen uh today that um shortly after the pandemic, we saw that number nearly double. And then a couple of years later, that number from twelve hundred to fourteen hundred rose to seven thousand to eight and nine thousand. Um, and all of that is happening at the same time that uh we are uh implementing a brand new property assessment tax system, what we call SMART. It's a system for managing assessments, records, and transactions. And uh the reality because of that work is that other items don't get done because there is a statutory deadline that we must meet. It's either two years, um, uh typically four years if we are able to receive a waiver and agree upon one mutually between the taxpayer uh and their representative uh and our office. If we don't meet that two-year deadline in the appeals process, then the um uh homeowners' stated value becomes the assessed value of the property. And some people on their documentation put one dollar. Now that is not a fair nor accurate value, but hypothetically, that is something that would happen and be enrolled if we do not meet that statutory deadline, which means we need to meet those deadlines. That has an impact on our office in terms of the rising backlog that you see. But that is um uh not an elephant. It's something that we've been talking about since I came into office, knowing that this challenge would be in front of us as we are dealing with these dual challenges of a brand new property tax system that has drawn our resources towards it, meaning our people who would otherwise be doing that work and our people that are focused on appeals rather than production. What I mean by production is changes in ownership that I was talking about, or that new construction, that fair and accurate value that we want to capture. Luckily, in this most recent budget cycle, we were able to get new positions in the budget so that we could allocate their time, and we're gonna be hiring them in January of this year, of this coming year in 2026, uh, to begin to have them focus on those changes in ownership, uh, those new construction properties, so we can work down those items in about half the amount of time it would have taken us if we didn't get new staff.

Jessica J. Ho:

And when will the SMART system be online?

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Aaron Powell It's online right now. So so today uh people can already go there and it is uh extraordinary for them because they can file their paperwork uh online for those that want to. You can still do it via paper, but you're able to do that online, uh, and therefore you're able to track it online uh so people can see like where their uh items are uh in the process.

Jessica J. Ho:

That's huge.

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

It's huge.

Jessica J. Ho:

When did this start happening?

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Um this it just started happening the past couple of weeks.

Jessica J. Ho:

Oh so I was like, I missed this.

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

No, so so we we we haven't made any formal announcements. I want to make sure that all the little bugs, all the little intricacies have been ironed out. Well, we have a brand new system that requires a new way of working for our staff that will lead to a greater efficiency, better communication, better transparency among different divisions that can communicate with each other, and all of that means that the public will have a better, more transparent, more efficient experience because of this new technology. We're talking about an old black and green screen.

Jessica J. Ho:

Oh yeah, my my broker, um, I asked him if he had any questions for you, and he's like, Why is it so old school?

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Yeah, I I I mean paper.

Jessica J. Ho:

Oh, yeah. Well, this is actually one of the questions that I you know I get from my realtor friends, right? Like, oh yeah, it's been so antiquated for so long.

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Yeah, and and these projects are extremely complicated and complex. So San Mateo, um uh down the peninsula, they just instituted theirs a couple of months ago. We've been using the same vendor. Um uh these projects are never guaranteed. I mean, can you imagine the frustration you have when you pick up your phone when there's a new update in the application system? Now, imagine that for something as intricate as property taxes and all of the complex areas that you're dealing with, both as staff and as members of the public, and making sure that that tool is going to be of very good and simple use for you to the greatest degree possible. So that's how we're focused right now. And I'm very excited about launching that. It's a big deal. I mean, you have a brand new technology system, a brand new technology infrastructure for an office. You're changing the way that you're working in the midst of a uh unprecedented uh challenge for our office with uh a very long horizon, meaning multi-year horizon to resolve. Uh, we are coming to work, we are uh taking care of those items at the same time that we're lifting up this brand new technology and absorbing it uh as an office. So I'm very proud of all the work that my team has been doing to make that possible because it's gonna add up to something that people will be able to benefit from in the public.

Jessica J. Ho:

Yeah. And this is a very exciting time.

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Yeah, we're catching our breath.

Jessica J. Ho:

You're really, you know, getting the staff to do the work that you need to do to address those backlogs, and then you're rolling out this new tech system that hopefully will make it much easier for both your staff and for people to interact with us as a recorder's office.

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Absolutely. I'm and I'm I'm very proud about that. And and again, it it is these offices are made up of dedicated public servants. And I I can't tell you I think one of the coolest things uh for me is how often I am getting a text, a phone call, an email, or handwritten notes and letters from members of the public who want to take the time to share that they were so impressed by the level of service and care, consideration, and thoughtfulness that they've received from staff who can answer their questions clearly, guide them through a process, uh, and allow them to feel like, oh my gosh, like government really is working for me uh in in in this way, even when the answer is not to their liking, because they understand why the rule is the way that it is.

Jessica J. Ho:

One of the things that's surprising most about our conversation is that the assessor records office isn't just about assessing property values, it's also about protecting them. You know, you were saying that there are some other programs that people can benefit from.

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Yeah, one of the things that we were hearing in community when we were out doing assessor in the neighborhood events or doing presentations was uh the need for low or free estate plans. Uh why that is significant is because if someone needs to go through the probate process for a typical home of, say, the value of a million dollars, uh, and we know how much homes cost here, both in the Bayview and elsewhere throughout the city or in the sunset, usually that probate cost is about forty thousand dollars because an estate plan was not in place that allowed you to forego that probate process.

Jessica J. Ho:

And where does that forty thousand dollar come from?

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Where does that I mean I don't know about you, but I don't have $40,000 lying around to help me through that process. And so what often happens is that people either have to sell the asset and then suddenly that community property, that property of the family that was intended to be passed on from one generation to the next, has now been sold and liquidated, which has an impact both on the family's financial considerations and well-being, and also on the community's well-being, because that's one more household that had long-standing roots in the community that has now and is now going to be passed on because they weren't planning ahead. So I know these are difficult conversations for families to have about what happens when we pass on and die, but these are necessary conversations to have to ensure that uh the memory can live on uh in reality, in physicality, through the frame of a home uh that can be such a powerful, powerful tool for so many generations. Having an estate plan ensures that you're not having to go through that and that you're able to have your wishes, the desires uh that you have for how your hard-earned assets are passed on are in direct alignment with your desires and your intent. And so an estate plan is a huge part of that. So, right when I came into office, I established in partnership with Crankstart Foundation, no tax dollars associated with this program, a free or low-cost estate plan depending on your income. We focused primarily in the southeast part of the city because we wanted to align where homeownership and communities of color overlapped. And because we believe so much in intergenerational wealth building, we wanted to make sure we had a tool at free or very little cost, $0 or $400, if you were more moderate income, for a $3,000 to $3,500 value that you could receive as a member of the community. So to ensure that you would have an estate plan in place. And our partner is Hera, Housing Economic Rights Advocates. And they have been wonderful in helping work with community members, answering their questions to make sure that they could uh have power of attorney, have health directives, and also be sure that their estate uh is going to be passed on in the way that they intended. So I'm very proud about this program, and we're looking forward to future announcements about more opportunities being made available because of it.

Jessica J. Ho:

That focus on protecting legacy homes ties directly into the most confusing state laws out there, Prop 19.

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Proposition 19, very specifically the intergenerational base year value transfer element of this constitutional amendment that went before the voters in November of 2020 when the sky was orange and day was night, they received ballots at that time in the thick of the pandemic that said for this proposition 19 item, something to support seniors and those who had been impacted by wildfires, those who were disabled, um were impacted by other natural disasters. Of course, in the environment that we were in just four weeks earlier, we'd had that horrific experience. For some of us, we were still smelling the smoke. And yet, beneath that, and many people are like, How did this happen? How did how did I vote for this? Well, it was because that language about this very specific provision that people were becoming aware of over time, if they were in the know, was buried in the ballot argument, buried in the details. It was not on your ballot, clearly and specifically. We thought we were just voting on this wildfire provision. I think it's important for people to hear that from those of us in government so that they know that they're they're not crazy for thinking that they missed something, or they're not stupid for missing something. Um it's it's that something was buried in there for a very specific reason. And uh and I want to make sure that people know that when government allows something to happen in this way, that we are able to speak to the public with honesty, integrity, and truth. And so I do carry that with me when when I do my work each day.

Jessica J. Ho:

So let's move on to something a little bit more lighthearted. Sure. Um, where are your go-to spots in the Sunset District?

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Um oh wow. Um uh well, I think one of my favorite spots is in the Outer Sunset Farmers Market. Um, Semilla, uh, who is listening to Chronicles having one of the best breath breakfast burritos or best burritos in the city. Um Norma is the owner there. She is about to pop up in uh in the sunny in Sunnydale, uh, the public housing uh that is out there uh in the southeast part of the city. She's gonna be one of the small businesses uh that's gonna be incubating in that space. Uh she has been and always will be one of my favorite breakfast burrito makers in the city because it reminds me of what my grandmother used to make when I was a kid in Monterey Park. Perfect flour tortillas, great eggs, beautifully uh pickled uh escabeche, which means you know, you're like either your jalapenos and carrots and onions that have a little vinegar heat on them. Just so, so good. Her corn chips are phenomenal. Um, I just had a chance to visit uh Celias, uh, which is uh the Mexican restaurant celebrating their, I believe it's their 60th anniversary this year, right on Judah.

Jessica J. Ho:

It's called Celias.

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Sure. Cualquiera, cualquiera. You you can say Celias or Celias, it's up to you.

Jessica J. Ho:

Yeah, I love that place.

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Um I I I call it Celias. That that's what comes out. Yeah. Um I I met uh uh the the current the the youngest owner and chef who's there um to give him a certificate of honor recently, and I love uh the fact that they are making such great food um uh there. Um uh I really was really sad to see the damn fine coffee uh in in the outer sunset uh had had closed down because I used to love uh their coffee. I also used to love them when they were trouble coffee way out in the outer sunset. Uh Julietta, um uh I if you're listening, I really, really miss you and and your coffee, although it was great to see you and catch you at uh Cafe Trieste in North Beach recently. I also love Gordos. Um when my sister uh and my nephew and her partner all came over, uh, I just I needed a quick place to go, and I picked up some great um Mexican food from from Gordos right on night.

Jessica J. Ho:

I gotta say, for anyone who's listening out there, we need more Mexican food in the Sunset District.

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Oh yeah.

Jessica J. Ho:

Like what you're saying is great, but like can we have more?

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Oh yeah.

Jessica J. Ho:

Can we have more diversity?

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Oh yeah. Um and Palm City wines, their hoagies, their beers, Dennis and Monica are so cool. Emily, who manages the space now, I I love them. I think they're so such cool people.

Jessica J. Ho:

Awesome.

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

And Blackbird books. Yeah. Um, especially when I can, you know, make the rounds uh after I go to other avenues, the um uh the co-op marketplace, make my way over there and pick up uh a matcha and some uh olive oil cake.

Jessica J. Ho:

Their olive oil cake is really good.

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

It's really, really good.

Jessica J. Ho:

Yeah, there's some really great spots in the sunset.

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Oh yeah.

Jessica J. Ho:

And I you know, I do think that um people are learning more that they're that they exist. But um which is a good and bad thing, right?

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Oh, it is. It is. Sunset gym is my gym, so I I love Sunset Gym. Oh, I love it. I think it's so it's it's perfect. And then also, um, of course, Green Apple Books, uh, which is where I get whenever I need to go shopping for a book, that's where I go.

Jessica J. Ho:

Yeah, yeah. So many great places in the sunset to shop and to eat and to explore. So thank you so much. I'm so glad you're a neighbor. I'm so glad you're here.

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

I know it was just a short bike right away.

Jessica J. Ho:

Short bike w yeah, exactly. And yeah, I think is there anything else you want to talk about before we close?

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

I just want to make sure that if anyone ever has any questions uh around property taxes, uh, whether it's there is no wrong door. Um it's just remembering that when we tell you that I need to transfer you the treasurer and tax collector, uh, it's because I want you to get their direct answer for the office that they manage. But if you just simply need to reach out, if you're confused, don't be shy about it. Um we are here to serve you. We're here to answer your questions and help you get you get you the information that you need. And also, if you can visit our website, you can just Google Assessor's Office. That's the simplest thing to do. Um, and go to our website that's been updated. You can get the information that you need uh in English and in the language of your preference or the language of your need to get the information uh that you want to need. And remember, remember, remember, if you are a property owner or business owner, pay that bill on time, even if you are going to appeal it. Because if you don't pay it on time by state law, there will be penalties and fees. And I bring this up because there was a woman who came into my office, and unfortunately, because of the law, she still had to pay a $500 fee and penalty, even though she had just missed it, because those are unfortunately the rules. So I want to make sure that everyone is paying attention to those deadlines. And again, if you have any questions, just come on in. We're at room 190 on the first floor of City Hall as you go through a very nice security. Those sheriff's cadets are lovely. Walk right on through with the first door on the right. Uh, you can go ahead and take a number if there's a long line, or you can just walk on up usually. But if there is a line because of a new system that we built, we will text you to let you know when your number has come up so you don't just have to sit around and wait around. So please do make use of us. We're here to serve you.

Jessica J. Ho:

Thank you so much, Accessory Clor of Joaquin Coraz.

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Thank you so much. It's been a real pleasure to be here, and I can't wait to see what new interviews you do in the future.

Jessica J. Ho:

Thank you very much.

Assessor Recorder Joaquin Torres:

Thanks.

Jessica J. Ho:

Talking with Joaquin reminded me that understanding government isn't just about policy. It's about understanding, it's about access, it's about knowing how to empower yourself to live within the systems that exist. So whether you own a home, dream of buying one, or just want to know where your tax dollars go, this episode is about connecting those dots. Government doesn't have to feel distant. Sometimes it just needs a better translator. I'm Jessica Ho, and thanks for listening to The Sense of Connected. See you in the next one.

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Jessica J. Ho | Sunset District Story Collector

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