If you pay Berkeley property taxes, you pay for city assessments. There are 9 dwelling-size-related tax assessments on the right side of your tax bill. The city of Berkeley’s Finance Department calculates these taxes and uses a set of books on dwelling size, which is different than the values on the County Assessor’s Roll. The city substantiates the dwelling size values with Property Cards kept in the Finance Department.

Many property cards don’t account for permitted building additions. Many property cards include non-conforming spaces, which are not dwelling spaces, in the building area calculation. This results in smaller homes paying higher tax assessments than larger homes, often much to the detriment of the homeowner! See the following example.