City of Berkeley Finance Department

There is so much suck when it comes to The City of Berkeley finance department. First off, they put you on hold so long that you contemplate hanging up (I think this is on purpose). Also, why is it SO hard to get anything done in this city as a property management company? I PROMISE IM NOT SOME CREEP THAT LIKES TO SET UP BULKY TRASH PICKUPS FOR FUN. Seriously though… My next complaint is the red tape around EVERYTHING. Want a new window? Better wait the rest of your life to get it approved! Want to separate bills by property for RHSP? Too bad, apparently it’s too complicated to understand that one owner may be using different management for different properties.
End rant… for now

Sure, this venue doesn’t sound nearly as exciting as many others (ie: restaurants, bars, stores, etc), however, I must say, I had a pretty good experience here this week.
I’ve been to many DMV’s and government buildings before but never have I seen any until living in Berkeley, that function so well and have such friendly staff! Makes running errands at these establishment much more enjoyable!
Although the place is packed, the wait can be quite lengthy, but it turned out to be much quicker to get called up than I had expected. Phew!
Once I got up to the counter, the woman working there was super helpful, took care of my paperwork quickly, and we had a great conversation while she was going so. It was a good experience and I won’t fret coming back in the future if/​when I have to!

If you like waiting around at the DMV, you are going to LOVE visiting the Finance Office. Some of the people here are obese and spent a lot of time talking together about their lunch plans while me and 30 other people sat waiting for them to get back to work. This is the kind of behavior that makes us citizens want to cut government worker’s pensions.
I waited for so long I had to leave before my number was called (it took them an hour to help 6 people!). Later that night I was able to contact the office via email by writing to
– this turned out to be good because they emailed me the form that I needed (which I could not find at the finance office nor on the city of Berkeley web site). If they had a better, more complete and updated website, half us citizens could handle our business without visiting the office.
So be warned. Check the website here:
, email your questions first, and if you have to go down there, bring a book, water, and a snack, and park in an all day lot.

I have to give them five stars… why?
They were supposed to charge me $ 12.00 for a prorated residential parking permit but the person behind the desk didn’t punch in the numbers right on the credit card terminal. When my statement came in the mail the charge was $ 0.12 WOO HOO!!! HOORAY for bureaucratic incompetence!

The red tape inherent in the City of Berkeley office is ridiculous. For weeks now, I’ve been trying to obtain a business license. The instructions on the website make it sound so simple… luckily, I second guessed the simplicity and called the City of Berkeley Finance Department. They explained that, despite what is written on the website, I have to come down to the office and have my application approved. A pain, but no big deal, thought I. Instead, that turned into 2 hours of going from the Business office to the Permit Service Center and back and forth. The hang up – they didn’t have my office suite listed in their computer system, only on an old index card, so they refused to approve my application. Now that my application is approved, the building has to be inspected, despite the fact that the office is in a well-​established office building that was just approved. And, he’s on vacation for another week. This process is ridiculously complicated and unnecessarily so. The website is misleading and in no way outlines the multiple steps, costs, and amount of time that is required.

Parking ticket be damned!!!
If I say I’ve learned my lesson, can you reduce the fine???