What is the difference between Building and Safety and the Assessor? Don’t they all have the same records?

While I worked for the Assessor and as I speak to people who own homes or other types of property I have observed a misconception in the different levels of government and who owns or does what…so let’s get clarity! There are several levels of government the largest being the federal government, then there is state then county then city. The city and county are two completely separate entities, which communicate with each other however on a day to day basis they do not share any of the same records.

The city is generally where you would go to obtain permits, zoning and planning information. The records kept on file vary city to city, some keep building information some don’t. The city really has no need for this in the long term other than to verify what may or may not be legal on a property. The confusion may arise for those individuals who own property in unincorporated area since by default they would need to go to the county department of public works which is essentially their city. Since the area has not been incorporated by a city yet, the county is the city for that area however again, the department of public works is a completely separate department and does not have the same records as the Assessor and functions independently.

The Assessor will have access to the records from the city or county and vice versa. So the records kept by your city in regards to the structure on your property pertain more to permits, zoning and planning whereas the Assessor keeps diagrams and description so that the market value of your property may be determined should there be a re-assessable event on your property. Sometimes the city and county will cross reference each other for information when needed however this is not automatic. When you need your square footage updated or use type updated, generally it is the Assessor’s records that need to be changed.