One of our long-term clients faced a 75% increase in the sanitation assessment in just one year at their retail center in San Mateo. Our client reached out to us as they were not familiar with the sanitation assessment process and how to present and negotiate with the city a reduction of the sanitation assessment.
San Mateo Retail Center
Challenge
Solution
Working with the city of San Mateo and the local water provider, our team leveraged our expertise in sanitation assessment and property management to identify multiple discrepancies. Among those discrepancies, our team identified an incorrect classification of a landscape meter as a domestic water meter. To justify our findings, our team gathered the data for a reclassification and exemption of the landscape meter from sanitary assessments. Additionally, a comprehensive review of the retail center’s water usage revealed that one of the tenants had an abnormally high-water usage. Upon further investigation, the high-water usage was discovered to be due to a leak in an underground water pipe. After analyzing and confirming the potential savings, our team presented a comprehensive report to the city of San Mateo and worked with the city to negotiate a reduction in the sanitation assessment.
Results
Our team was successful in reducing the sanitation assessment for the tax year in question by 57%. The landscape meter was removed from sanitation assessment and the records have been corrected to prevent future mis-assessment. Lastly, an additional three (3) years of sanitation assessment proceeding to the appeal year were refunded to our client as part of our investigation.