Here’s the best way to make the office an equal with the county executive, legislators, sheriff and prosecutor.
Getty Images
In my 20 years in the assessment world, I have worked on property tax issues around the country with both elected and appointed assessors. Jackson County voters will decide whether to make the position an elected office in the Nov. 4 election.
Both of these types of assessors are professionals who strive for fair and equitable assessments that comply with the laws and guidelines of their states. It is a serious profession, with big responsibilities to the public’s trust, and it is not meant for the faint-hearted, whether they are appointed or seek the office as a step into the political arena.
Over the years, many in the property tax industry have argued that appointed assessors provide a higher level of professionalism that leads to higher levels of assessment uniformity in a jurisdiction. However, an empirical study in 1989 in the National Tax Association’s Journal based on both elected assessors and appointed assessors in Virginia (where there are both types of assessors) saw no statistically significant difference in the achievement of assessment uniformity, and laid that argument to rest.
Furthermore, another empirical study from Virginia in 2015 revealed that between 2008 and 2011, assessment jurisdictions administered by elected officials were more cost-efficient than those of appointed assessors.
From personal experience, I believe operating an assessment office is way more complicated than just getting the annual assessed real property values to match the statistical dictates of the state, or returning budgeted resource allocations back to the local government treasury.
I support the idea of an elected assessor for two main reasons:
Accountability: Elected assessors are directly accountable to the people of their jurisdiction. Appointed assessors are beholden to the fiscal policy and sometimes the political agenda their appointing officials. In some jurisdictions, appointed assessment professionals have many layers of government hierarchy to report to for decision-making, but no direct accountability to the people. This is a main crux of the issue here in Jackson County.
Independence: Elected assessors operate as equals to other elected officials — in Jackson County, the county executive, legislators, sheriff and prosecutor. Elected assessors can advocate property tax policy and government operations not only to these equals, but also to other local jurisdictions, the state and the federal government.
While serving an elected assessor in San Diego, my office advocated for increased homeowner exemptions at the California State Assembly, proposed deductions for renters, helped with residents’ state income tax forms, reduced business personal property tax for small businesses during COVID-19 lockdowns, lobbied to make all veterans (not just 100% disabled) and first responders exempt from property tax, and advocated for protecting the state’s annual assessment limit for all property owners.
In Maricopa County, Arizona, I served two elected assessors. We consolidated offices during the Great Recession, saving taxpayer dollars, yet improving counter and telephone response times. We helped pass state laws to reduce property taxes on solar power and new high technology businesses, streamlined commercial appeal processes, received national and international awards for employee education achievement, and implemented technology to make all property tax data available to the public in a few clicks of a mobile device or home computer — a major step for government transparency.
After the last six years of assessment administration and jurisdictional tax rate chaos in all quarters of Jackson County, the idea of a clear voice with a clear mission — to restore public trust — is what the voters should demand of a new elected assessor.
Tim Boncoskey served as 2019 president of the International Association of Assessing Officers. He is former chief of staff for the San Diego County assessor, recorder and county clerk, and former chief deputy assessor of Maricopa County, Arizona. He lives in Kansas City.
