San Francisco Giants Property Tax Battle Continues

AT&T Park in San Francisco is currently locked into a battle with the city over how much in taxes the Giants baseball team should pay.

In an appeal filed last May, the Giants asked that their property tax bills from 2011 to 2014 be cut in half, amounting to a total reduction of approximately $8 million. The World Series Champions claim that the value of AT&T Park has dropped well below the $200 million paid to build it 16 years ago, even as average home prices have more than doubled since then. Besides property taxes, the Giants pay an additional $10 million a year in payroll, parking, and other taxes to the city.

The Giants have made their case to the San Francisco Assessment Appeals Board, a semi-judicial panel made up of experienced accountants, real estate brokers and tax attorneys in San Francisco.

City of San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Carmen Chu set the 2014 value of AT&T Park at $407 million, while the Giants claimed that it was only worth $232 million for the same year. The Assessment Appeals Board set the ballpark’s value at $365 million in 2014, which was the year of the team’s third World Series victory in five seasons.

Chu said, “While we are disappointed that they didn’t uphold our values, this is a strong validation of our belief that the assessed values should be increased.” However, the Board’s final determination won’t be released for another few weeks.

This isn’t the first time the team has disagreed with the city over its property taxes. In fact, as a tax attorney in San Francisco, I still remember how the tax feud began more than a decade ago when the Giants sought refunds for 2001 through 2003.

The Giants argued that since they hold a land lease at the port that expires after 66 years, the stadium is a “depreciating asset” that becomes less valuable each year. The Assessment Appeals Board eventually awarded the team $3.6 million in refunds.

The City of San Francisco and the Giants then settled on an agreement that set up a 10-year payment schedule, which prevented the city from increasing the assessed value of the park and allowed the team to claim a small yearly depreciation. However, when Chu took over as assessor in 2013 and the agreement expired, she nearly doubled the Giants’ assessment and re-lit the fires of the original dispute.

After the Assessment Board releases its finding of facts, the two sides may find themselves in court if working out a deal through a mediator proves impossible.