The Giants are asking the city for millions of dollars in property tax refunds, claiming that the value of AT&T Park has dropped well below the $200 million that the team paid to build it 16 years ago — even as home prices in San Francisco have more than doubled during that time.

In an appeal filed with the city, the Giants have asked that their property-tax bill be slashed in half for the years 2011 to 2014. That would come to a reduction of about $8 million total.

“All taxpayers have the right to have their property taxes set accurately and fairly and free from political influence,” the Giants’ senior vice president and general counsel, Jack Bair, said in a statement.

Two years ago, Bair said, city Assessor-Recorder Carmen Chu retroactively raised the Giants’ property taxes for 2011 by “an astonishing 97 percent.” She carried forward similar increases for subsequent years, he said.

“We do not believe that this increase is justified, and have exercised our right to have the assessment reviewed by a neutral panel of experts as provided by law,” Bair said.

The Giants will have to make their case to the San Francisco Assessment Appeals Board, the quasi-judicial panel charged with settling such disputes.

The two sides aren’t exactly close. Chu set the 2014 value of AT&T Park at almost $407 million, while the Giants peg it at more like $158 million and change.

“We believe our assessed value enrolled was the right value, and we are going to try to uphold that,” Chu said. “At the end of the day, we care about fairness for taxpayers no matter how large or small.”

In fairness, it should also be noted that in addition to property taxes, the Giants pay the city more than $10 million a year in payroll, parking and other taxes and in lease payments.

This isn’t the first time the team has knocked heads with the city over its property taxes.

The same issue popped up more than a decade ago, when the Giants sought millions of dollars in refunds for 2001 through 2003. At the time, Bair said the stadium was more like “a car than a house” — in that a car depreciates in value over time.

The Giants also argued that, unlike someone who owns a home in perpetuity, they hold a land lease at the port that expires after 66 years — making the stadium less valuable with each passing year.

The Assessment Appeals Board eventually ruled that the ballpark’s correct value was about $230 million and awarded the Giants $3.6 million in refunds.

The city and team then declared a truce, with the Giants agreeing to a 10-year payment schedule that kept San Francisco from increasing the assessed value of the ballpark and allowed the team to claim a “modest” annual depreciation.

But that was before Chu took over as assessor in 2013 and the agreement expired. She took a look and nearly doubled the Giants’ assessment.

Now both sides get to make their arguments. The first pitch comes Tuesday at the appeals board.

Kim flips: The biggest flip award of this year’s primary season goes to San Francisco Supervisor and state Senate candidate Jane Kim — who dumped her endorsement of Hillary Clinton for Bernie Sanders and quickly collected a cool $25,000 in contributions from his supporters.

Kim is running in a tight Senate race against fellow Supervisor Scott Wiener. The most recent campaign finance reports, from May 21, showed Wiener far ahead of her in money in the bank — $600,000 to $329,000.

Until recently, Kim was listed as a member of the national leadership committee of Korean Americans for Hillary. Then a couple of weeks back, she started talking to the Sanders campaign, which had heard about her call to make community college free in San Francisco.

“They asked me to speak at his rally in Vallejo, and I was honored to do so,” Kim said. Right about then, she flipped her endorsement in the Democratic presidential primary to the senator from Vermont.

Sanders returned the favor, endorsing Kim for state Senate and sending out a nationwide email asking supporters to give to her campaign. Within hours, the Kim people boasted of collecting a total of more than $25,000 from 1,000 donors.

“The response has been incredible,” Eric Jaye, a consultant for Kim’s campaign, told The Chronicle’s John Wildermuth. “The phones started leaping off the hook ... as soon as he sent the message out to his donors.”

Kim told us, “I have great respect for Hillary Clinton, and I am looking forward to supporting the eventual nominee.”

But in the meantime, she said, “I think we need the strong voice of Bernie Sanders.”

And apparently the money from his supporters.

This isn’t the first time Kim has hedged her bets. In 2014, she did a robocall for then-Assembly candidate David Chiu at the same time she was out campaigning for Chiu’s rival in the race, David Campos.

For art’s sake: One thing you can say about the folks at the Academy of Art University — they have no shortage of nerve.

The academy, which was just slapped with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit by San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera for allegedly converting buildings into dorms and classrooms without the proper zoning clearances, just sent an invite to Herrera and others at City Hall to attend the school’s spring showcase and student art show.

The location: 2225 Jerrold Ave. And yes, that’s one of the 22 buildings the city says were illegally converted.

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: matierandross