San Mateo County finances improve with lower COVID costs

“Providing transparent and useful information about the County’s financial activities to taxpayers and residents is important to us,” county Controller Juan Raigoza said. “These two annual reports help us to do that.”

COVID-related expenses were so much higher during the 2020-21 fiscal year, according to county officials, because the county allocated funding toward, among other things, the acquisition of hotels and other buildings to shelter residents at risk of infection, labor costs and a program that provided meals to older adults at higher risk of contracting COVID.

In total, the county’s revenue rose 1% between the 2020-21 fiscal year and 2021-22 to $2.49 billion while expenses fell 9% to $1.99 billion. For the first time in nearly a decade, property tax dipped slightly compared to years past but still accounted for most of the county’s tax revenue collections at 82% of the county’s tax revenue or $763 million, followed by sales and use taxes at 15% or $139 million and other taxes at 3% or $31 million. 

The county’s top 10 taxpayers for fiscal year 2021-22, covering 7.02% of total taxes billed, or $210 million, include: Pacific Gas and Electric, with $35 million; Genentech, with $32 million; Gilead Sciences Inc., with $29 million; real estate firm Hibiscus Properties LLC, with $23 million; United Airlines, with $19 million; Google Inc., with $17 million; Facebook Inc., with $15 million; real estate firm ARE, with $14 million; real estate firm HCP Oyster Point, with $13 million; and real estate firm Slough BTC LLC, with $13 million. 

Property values, overall, increased by more than 4% during fiscal year 2021-22, up to $266 billion. Those values have gone up for fiscal year 2022-23, with a lien date of Jan. 1, 2023, by 8.34% to $288 billion, marking the 12 year of growth and increasing the countywide multi-jurisdictional property tax revenue base to $2.88 billion. Those funds help support local taxing agencies including schools, cities, special districts and the county. 

Despite high inflation, high interest rates and recently announced job losses by some local companies, Raigoza said the county’s diverse local economy, skilled workforce and location “should enable it to do well as the economy recovers. 

The county has the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 2%, travel to the San Francisco International Airport is picking up and vacancy rates in commercial spaces have gone down, according to the report. 

“Many of the county’s current economic indicators are showing signs of strength compared to two years ago after the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020,” Raigoza wrote in his report. 

Raigoza assured the public the county’s annual fiscal reports are complete, accurate and compliant with financial report requirements given that the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada regularly grants the department a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. 

Last year’s report earned the county its 22 consecutive distinction from the GFOA and this year’s report will be submitted to the organization for review, according to the press release. 

“These awards demonstrate the Controller’s Office team’s commitment to providing quality financial reporting services, year-after year,” Raigoza said.

The county’s financial reports can be found at smcgov.org/controller.