Annual Report - Fiscal Year 2021-22

Overview

The position of San Francisco Treasurer is an elective office created by the City Charter in 1850. In July 1979, a charter amendment added the office and duties of Tax Collector to the Treasurer’s responsibilities. The Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector serves as the banker, collection agent, and investment officer for the government of San Francisco, the only combined city and county in the state of California. The Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector serves two basic functions for the citizens of the City and County of San Francisco:

Mission

The Office of the San Francisco Treasurer & Tax Collector serves as the banker, tax collector, collection agent, and investment officer for the City and County of San Francisco. Our mission is to collect and safeguard the City’s money and use our expertise to assist low-income San Francisco families build economic security and mobility. 

Vision

We are committed to providing excellent services for taxpayers, customers, and our community. By promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, we are a stronger, smarter, and more informed government agency. 

Organizational Chart

Accomplishments

Restoring Vibrancy in San Francisco  

The Commercial Vacancy Tax was passed by voters in 2020 with the purpose of reinvigorating commercial corridors in the City. The tax became effective in 2022 and the Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector has conducted extensive outreach to property and business owners in relevant commercial corridors covered by the tax. This has included a new website with interactive map, multilingual outreach materials and a webinar outlining the obligations related to the tax.

Property tax revenue is one of the most significant funding sources for public safety programs. Because of comprehensive communication from the Office to property owners and the encouragement of penalty waivers, more than 99 percent of secured property tax revenue was collected on time, providing billions in revenue.

Recovery of the Local Economy

The Office led implementation of First Year Free, an innovative new program passed by the Board of Supervisor and Mayor to support and revive San Francisco small businesses as the City recovers from the pandemic. First Year Free offers relief to qualifying new storefront businesses or locations by waiving the initial registration fees, initial license fees, and first-year permit fees. The Office seamlessly integrated screening and approval of the program into existing business registration and update process while conducting a broad multilingual outreach to business groups, creating a PSA, and conducting a social media marketing campaign.

The Office has also been fully committed to an ongoing citywide effort to provide relief to the City’s small businesses. Implementation of 10 deadline deferrals which impacted over 100,000 businesses and waived taxes and fees for small businesses was completed this year. Through these waivers, the Office provided millions of dollars in tax and fee relief to small businesses.

Prioritizing Programs Centered Around Equity

Implementation of the Racial Equity Action Plan began this year and numerous items have been accomplished, including reviewing and simplifying job descriptions; drafting improved Mission and Vision statements to better reflect the Office’s commitment and priorities; and creating an anonymous Racial Equity feedback form. 

Convening the Guaranteed Income Advisory Group and developing a robust playbook for future work was a major focus of the Office. The Advisory Group held six meetings and recently released recommendations as well as a guide to starting a pilot in the City. 

Kindergarten to College (K2C) celebrated its 10-year anniversary by building on an equity incentive pilot for incoming Kindergarten students from low-income families, encouraging college savings by increasing their initial seed money. K2C is also began offering the option for families to move their child’s college savings from K2C into a CA 529 ScholarShare account without losing K2C incentives.

The Financial Justice Project (FJP), in partnership with the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, announced the launch of the “Be The Jury” pilot program in San Francisco Superior Court, which will compensate low-to-moderate-income jurors $100 a day for their jury service. FJP also launched the “The Text Before Tow” Program, which will allow people to sign-up to get a text message when their vehicle is about to be towed for certain violations.  

Investing In and Automating our Core Service Delivery

City Hall offices were safely reopened while continuing to provide high quality customer service using new modes of engagement that are direct, real time and contactless. The Office will continue to extend contactless payments Citywide while reducing costs.

The Office moved to improve banking practices by concluding an RFP and contracting process that resulted in the City & County of San Francisco’s (CCSF) primary banking partner transitioning to JP Morgan, the first change in over 10 years. This partnership will include a first-ever Social Responsibility MOU between CCSF and JP Morgan, which will be spearheaded by the Office of Financial Empowerment. 

Working to implement Robotic Process Automation (RPA) while simultaneously streamlining business tax refund process and technology tools has been a priority over the last year.  These two efforts culminated when RPA was used for processing thousands of business registration renewal refunds in one-third the time associated with manual processing. The Office will continue to expand the use of RPA to improve efficiency and timeliness.

The property tax website was upgraded with search and payment features that will make it easier for taxpayers to find properties and pay bills.  In 2020, the Office implemented the TaxSys, cloud-based tax billing and collection system that allows us to electronically process hundreds of thousands of bills and billions in tax payments annually. The new site is the next generation of that major overhaul.

Looking Ahead

Biographies

David Augustine, Tax Collector

In March 2013, Treasurer José Cisneros appointed David Augustine as San Francisco Tax Collector. The San Francisco Tax Collector is responsible for all tax collection in the City and is the ex offico license collector under California law.

Mr. Augustine joined the Office in 2004 as Policy & Legislative Manager, and was instrumental in the implementation of the Treasurer’s many innovative social programs, including Bank on San Francisco, Kindergarten to College, and the Working Families Credit program. As Tax Collector Attorney he represented the office in a number of bankruptcy proceedings and coordinated collections work with the Bureau of Delinquent Revenue.

Prior to joining the City, Mr. Augustine worked in municipal public finance, and with the New York City Mayor’s Office. He holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School and a B.A. in Political Science from Swarthmore College. He is a member of the California State Bar.  He has attended the Senior Executives in State and Local Government program at the Kennedy School, and has served on the IRS Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities.  Mr. Augustine is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area and resides in San Francisco.