San Rafael Municipal Code Art. XII Revenue and Taxation

The council shall, by ordinance, provide a system for the assessment, levy and collection of all city taxes. During the month of August in each year it shall levy such a tax as may be necessary to raise revenue for the maintenance of the city and the several departments thereof during the fiscal year; but such tax levy for all municipal purposes, except the payment of principal and interest on the bonded debt, the maintenance of the public library, and an annual tax in an amount not exceeding ten cents per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation for the purpose of providing funds for and of financing participation by the city (by the purchase of insurance or otherwise) in defraying the annual cost of a pension or retirement plan or system, including disability and death benefits, for city officers and employees, shall not exceed the sum of one dollar for each one hundred dollars assessed valuation as the same appears upon the assessment roll.

All taxes assessed, together with any percentage imposed for delinquency and the cost of collection, shall constitute liens upon the property assessed. Every tax upon personal property shall be a lien upon the real property of the owner thereof. The liens provided for in this section shall attach as of the first Monday of March in each year, and may be enforced by actions in any court of competent jurisdiction to foreclose such liens, or by sale of property affected, and for the execution and delivery of all necessary certificates and deeds therefor, under such regulations as may be prescribed by ordinance; provided that when real property is offered for sale for taxes thereon, the same shall be struck off and sold to the city in like case and in like manner and with like effect and with like right of redemption as it may be struck off and sold to the state when offered for sale for state and county taxes; and the council shall have the power to provide for the procedure to be followed in such sales to the city and for the redemption of the property thereafter.

The council shall meet on the second Monday of August in each year, at ten o'clock in the forenoon of said day, and sit as a board of equalization, and shall continue in session from day to day until all the returns of the assessor have been rectified. They shall have power to hear complaints, and to correct, modify or strike out any assessment made by the assessor, and may, of their own motion, raise any assessment, upon notice to the party whose assessment is to be raised. The corrected list for each tax shall be the assessment roll for said tax for said year. It shall be certified by the city clerk, who shall act as clerk of the board of equalization, as being the assessment roll for said tax, and shall be the assessment roll upon which such tax is to be levied in said year.

The city council may, by ordinance, provide for the performance of the following duties by appropriate officers of the County of Marin, State of California, as authorized by any laws of the State of California then in force and effect:

(a) The assessment of city property for city taxes.

(b) The equalization and correction of assessments.

(c) The collection, payment and enforcement of the taxes, including delinquent taxes.

(d) The redemption of property from sale or other penalty for non-payment of city taxes.

During such periods of time as such an ordinance may be in effect and such duties are being performed by appropriate county officers, the offices of the city assessor and city tax collector shall become and remain suspended and vacant, and all of the duties of the city assessor not being so performed by county officers shall be performed by the city clerk, and all of the duties of the city tax collector not being performed by county officers, shall be performed by the city treasurer.

Also during such periods of time as such ordinance may be in effect and such services are being performed by appropriate county officers, the provisions of Section 3 of Article XII of this charter, requiring the city council to meet as a board of equalization, shall also be ineffective and inoperative.

All provisions of this charter and ordinances adopted thereunder, which may be in conflict herewith, are hereby repealed.