Jordan Marks, SD County Assessor, Presented Award by Realtors Group

Jordan Z. Marks, San Diego County Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk (ARCC), was recently honored by the Pacific Southwest Association of Realtors (PSAR), one of San Diego County’s largest real estate trade associations, with a “Key to Homeownership Award” for his pivotal role in improving governmental efficiency, advancing access to homeownership and protecting property rights.

The ARCC office said its 2024 gross assessed value roll reflected property tax savings of more than $300 million for San Diego homeowners, disabled veterans, small businesses, affordable and homeless housing projects and charitable organizations. The savings is due to several ARCC programs instituted over the past year that have benefited disabled veterans and surviving spouses, as well as homeowners and seniors.

Marks also was recently honored by the San Diego Board of Supervisors for helping more than 17,000 disabled veterans and surviving spouses with a combined savings of more than $29.5 million in property taxes over the past year. ARCC’s Disabled Veterans’ Exemption Unit is active in qualifying disabled veteran and unmarried surviving spouse homeowners for property tax savings of up to $1,700 on their primary residence.

In addition, Marks was awarded the 2024 San Diego County Taxpayer Association Watchdog award for saving taxpayers millions of dollars in property taxes. He has modernized systems adding more online services and reducing paper waste. His office also offers “Owner Alert,” a free electronic title fraud alert notification service for property owners. His office has received a 98.2% positive customer service rating this year.

As County Assessor, Marks oversees the ARCC office with more than 450 employees and five offices in San Diego County. His office, considered one of the busiest among California’s county assessor’s offices, is responsible for assessing the value of real estate and personal property, which in San Diego includes planes and boats.

The office also is responsible for the recording of all legal real estate documents, as well as registering business names and issuing marriage licenses, birth and death certificates. On average, the ARCC office provides nearly 25,000 marriage licenses and performs more than 11,000 weddings annually. Nearly every county resident who owns property or rents is affected by what happens at the ARCC office.

According to the most recent figures from the ARCC office, San Diego County’s gross assessed value of all taxable property, including residential, commercial and industrial land, has reached $768 billion, the highest in county history. The figure represents an increase of 5.58 percent between Jan. 1, 2023, and Jan. 1, 2024.

San Diego County is the fifth largest assessment jurisdiction in the nation with 1,017,929 real estate parcels, 56,839 business personal property accounts, 14,852 boats, and 1,576 aircraft. The tax roll’s net assessed value is $738 billion after deducting $30 billion for taxpayer savings.

Since property taxes constitute the largest share of revenue for the county, the tax roll figures include approximately $7.38 billion property tax revenue to support county, city, school, fire, water and other special district services.

Marks, a countywide elected official, was elected to a four-year term in November 2022 to oversee the fifth largest Assessor jurisdiction in the U.S. He is California Certified Property Tax Appraiser, a California licensed attorney, and a certified cybersecurity executive from the University of San Diego.

Marks and other elected officials were honored at the recent PSAR Installation Dinner that included the swearing-in of PSAR’s 2025 board of directors.