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Mammoth Forum
By Barry Beck
Real Property Appraiser III
Mono County Assessor’s Office I am writing this both as a taxpayer in Mono County and an employee of the Mono County Assessor’s Office, which allows me a close familiarity with the circumstances and controversy in the Assessor’s Office. My purpose is to give you an opportunity to learn more about how you can help resolve ongoing concerns about the continued financial welfare of Mono County and the Town of Mammoth Lakes.
We have an election on June 3 that is of critical importance: The replacement of recently resigned Assessor Jim Lovett. There have been serious issues in the Mono County Assessor’s Office with a lack of leadership, accountability of management and absentee office supervision. One of these issues has been decided with the ‘retirement’ of Assessor Lovett; now we as taxpayers have the civic duty and obligation to choose a new Assessor, someone with the specialized knowledge and experience to successfully lead the office.
The staff at the Assessor’s Office has read the Q&A of recent weeks, and has been both amused and mortified by certain responses.
It is clear right from the beginning that only two of the four candidates are in any way qualified to hold the position. Jody Henning and Bob Musil have both been in this very specialized field for a number of years, and have an understanding of Proposition XIII and how it applies to all of us as taxpayers.
Stu Bownes has made it very clear that he doesn’t understand the basic premise of Proposition XIII, which as directed by the Revenue and Taxation Code, regulates the Assessor and his/her staff. In response to question three, Mr. Bownes wrote, “…I plan to encourage everyone in the County to file for an assessment appeal and use that process to ensure that a fair value is reached in every case.” This is a ridiculous statement. If the property was purchased prior to 2005 or so, the protected base year value of the property is likely less than the current market value.
An assessment appeal is usually not the best method to mitigate a decline in a property’s market value. Encouraging everyone in the county to file an assessment appeal would be frivolous, a waste of time for most taxpayers, and a huge waste of time (and taxpayer dollars) for the staff at the Assessor’s Office and the Assessment Appeals Board. For those who purchased property from 2005 to 2007, there is an avenue to seek relief if in fact the base year value is higher than current market value; that avenue is a decline in value property review, commonly known as a Prop 8 review.
In 2005, the Assessor requested a fee schedule for property characteristics inquiries from fee appraisers and other users due to the amount of staff time being devoted to these requests. It is important to understand that this does not affect the individual property owner. If you, as a taxpayer and property owner,wish to call or visit our office to inquire about the contents of your parcel file, that information is available to you at no charge.
Before the fees were instituted by the Mono County Board of Supervisors, the fee appraisers were taking advantage of the situation. The property characteristics are available on a subscription basis from various sources, but many of the fee appraisers would instead call the Assessor’s Office to obtain the information for free, which they would then charge their clients for. Mr. Bownes was a particularly ardent user of this ‘free’ service, and he was quite vocal in his displeasure when these fees were instituted. In fact, he initially ran up a sizable bill, and refused to pay until his further requests were withheld for lack of payment. Mr. Bownes wrote in his reply to the first question, “I will get as much public information as possible available free so that everyone has the ability to understand and argue issues they may have concerning their property assessments.” It would appear that Mr. Bownes has an ax to grind.
Keith “Randy” Cook can’t decide which county office he is most qualified for. In the 1998 election for the County Auditor, before that position became an appointed position, Mr. Cook unsuccessfully ran for that office as well. Mr. Cook stated in question three that, “I found that there was no formal job description for the Assessor position…” Apparently it is on this premise that Mr. Cook feels he is qualified to be the Mono County Assessor.
It is important to understand that the responsibilities of the assessor are highly specialized. California is the only state that operates under the provisions of Proposition XIII, resulting in a very small pool of candidates with the requisite work experience, proprietary knowledge, and the intimate understanding of how to apply that knowledge and experience.
In response to question number three, Mr. Cook wrote “…I am prepared to examine property assessments and request appeals based on my professional knowledge of legal issues and my expertise in the field of fiscal responsibility.” What is he saying, anyway? Mr. Cook has “professional knowledge of legal issues”? His lack of professional knowledge of the duties and responsibilities of the Assessor’s Office become obvious with his statement above. An appeal (a.k.a. an Application for Changed Assessment), is requested by the taxpayer who feels that their valuation is incorrect. Mr. Cook, like Mr. Bownes, is unaware that the assessor must certify the delivery of the tax roll with an affidavit. The following statement is an excerpt from that affidavit: “…I have made diligent inquiry and examination to ascertain all the property within the county subject to assessment by me, and that it has been assessed on the roll, according to the best of my judgment, information, and belief, at its value as required by law;” Therefore, it is an automatic conflict of interest for the assessor to request an appeal on behalf of the taxpayer, and illustrates a fundamental lack of understanding of how the appeals process works.
The successful performance of the assessor’s duties requires specialized technical knowledge and expertise that can only be acquired through years of direct experience working in an assessor’s office. The responses mentioned above clearly identify the candidates who are lacking the specialized knowledge and experience required to perform the duties of an assessor. As a Mono County taxpayer and employee, I encourage you to carry out your civic duty and obligation and choose the candidate with the highest level of experience and qualifications to be the next Mono County Assessor.
Mammoth Forum is a forum for public representatives to express opinions. Length limit: 1,000 words. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent policies and opinions of the staff or owners of the Mammoth Times. Reader response is encouraged.
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