Trustee Candidate Erwin Tam Is Ready to Crunch the Numbers

For municipal financial advisor Erwin Tam, the June release of City College’s tentative 2026-27 budget was a “wake-up call.” He declared his candidacy for the college’s Board of Trustees about a month later with an endorsement from former trustee Alex Randolph.

Tam says there were two numbers that motivated him to run, the tentative 2026-27 ending fund balance, which sits at $65 million in excess funds, and the projected 2029-30 ending fund balance, about $14 million, a 78% decrease in reserves. 

“Even though in the current year [2026-27], there seems to be large reserves, all the reserves the college [has] will be spent in three years, while also not allowing any money to be spent on giving faculty or staff any raises,” Tam said. 

Over the next three years, college expenses are projected to grow while state and local funding remain the same. To make up for the gap in funding, City College might need to draw almost $25 million from its reserves in the 2029-30 fiscal year, Tam said.     

As a trustee, Tam wants to raise awareness about the details of City College’s multiyear projection and empower the Participatory Governance Council to collaborate on a financial plan. He believes that the decisions made by the Board of Trustees over the next four years will be critical in determining the college’s financial sustainability and long-term educational goals.  

On Free City, Tam recognizes it as a “great resource” that he hopes to strengthen along with dual enrollment by re-establishing the joint committee between the Board of Trustees, the San Francisco Unified School District’s board of education, and the city’s board of supervisors.

He does not support selling the Downtown Center and said that “it would not be in the public's interest or the college's interest or San Francisco's interest to sell this property.” Tam sees the development of the next facilities master plan as “the opportunity to shape what the Downtown Center is going to look like.” 

“My goal isn't Erwin's plan. It's going to be let's work together to create a plan that works for everybody and brings everyone together,” he said.

Currently, Tam is the director of finance for the California Housing Finance Agency and has over two decades of experience providing financial advice for municipal agencies including San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, San Francisco International Airport, the Port of San Francisco and over 30 community colleges throughout California.

During his career, he’s developed a financial model for the Bay Area Rapid Transit extension to SFO, “ran the numbers” for Proposition A in 2020, and helped a Los Angeles community college save “tens of millions of dollars on their financing plan.”

Tam was “always good with numbers and math” and took a second-year calculus course at City College while attending high school. His mother took personal enrichment classes at the college, and Tam’s father attended City College for two years before transferring to University of California, Berkeley, where the younger Tam also graduated with a degree in economics and environmental science.

“We each were students at City [College] in slightly different ways. My mom as a lifelong learner, my dad as a transfer, and me supplementing my own education,” he said. 

“My dad came here 50 years ago. I came here 30 years ago. Between helping the college with the 2020 bond measure or even marching with the Queer Resource Center for Pride in 2015, I feel like I haven't been that far away. So I'm really excited to potentially be a part of the college again,” said Tam.