Santa Clara County assessor race: Four candidates look to replace Larry Stone in November

For the first time in more than three decades Santa Clara County voters will see an open race for an assessor in November and four candidates are in the running Larry Stone the longtime assessor who was first elected in released earlier this year that he d be vacating his seat in July before his term is up in The county is required by its charter to hold a special referendum instead of appointing a permanent replacement and Greg Monteverde who previously was the assistant assessor is serving in the interim Related Articles PRO CON Measure A would increase Santa Clara County sales tax Is it worth it Opinion Measure A is a taxpayer bailout for poor planning fiscal mismanagement Opinion Measure A would help keep Santa Clara County hospitals open Poll shows endorsement among likely voters for Measure A Opponents of Measure A say taxes are already too high in Santa Clara County The assessor race is one of two countywide elections on the Nov ballot Voters will also decide whether to approve a five-eighths-of-a-cent sales tax increase to offset the impact of modern federal cuts on the county s budget which is known as Measure A Four candidates have thrown their hats in the ring to be the next assessor a role that oversees an billion constituents enterprise that assesses the value of more than properties in the county The candidates are East Side Union High School District Trustee Bryan Do Los Altos Vice Mayor Neysa Fligor former Saratoga Councilmember Rishi Kumar and Saratoga Councilmember Yan Zhao Zhao who kicked off her campaign in is leading the fundraising race raking in as of Sept She has cash on hand Fligor is the second-biggest charity event with a haul of that includes a personal loan She in the present has in campaign cash Kumar informed raising through Sept which included a loan He has in cash on hand Do s campaign is self-funded so far through a loan He currently has in cash on hand Bryan Do Do was elected to the East Side Union High School District s Board of Trustees in and re-elected in As a former project manager who deployed management information systems across the globe he reported he is uniquely positioned to aid in the office s device upgrade Even though they have a new system that they purchased we don t know how it s integrated he stated Frankly I think I can do a better job Do stated that he wants to make sure that the office is fair accurate and consistent for the constituents and makes improvements using data-driven tools He s proposing offering customer organization to residents by utilizing conversational AI You can train it so that it can provide allegedly a response to of the standard questions that somebody asks he declared Do also wants to publish a population dashboard that shows how the assessor s office is performing by tracking the completion of the assessment roll the time it takes for appeals and other customer operation ratings He also plans on providing nonconfidential content to residents so that they can see how property valuations are determined Do is endorsed by San Jose Councilmember Bien Doan former San Jose Councilmembers Tam Nguyen and Mahn Nguyen and Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho Neysa Fligor Fligor was elected to the Los Altos City Council in becoming the first Black council member in the city s history She at this moment works as the assistant assessor a role she was promoted to following Stone s retirement where she oversees the day-to-day operations of the office She previously served as the special assistant to the assessor I m in the office doing the work I know the work Fligor stated of her experience Her r sum also includes nine years at HP as a legal executive and almost a decade in the Santa Clara County Counsel s Office where one of her assignments was working with the assessor If elected Fligor commented her number one priority is ensuring that the assessor s office closes the assessment roll by the state-mandated June deadline Her second priority is to finish the office s modernization of its device which she commented she is already working on It ties in with the priorities of saving taxpayers money because with more efficient processes we ll definitely be able to save money but we ll also be able to do more society engagement and outreach Fligor announced Locality engagement is another priority of hers that she started implementing last year reaching out to residents and ensuring they re aware of what the assessor s role is and whether they re eligible for various exemptions Fligor is endorsed by dozens of current and former elected executives including Stone Reps Sam Liccardo and Zoe Lofgren Santa Clara County Supervisor Susan Ellenberg and State Controller Malia Cohen Rishi Kumar Kumar was elected to the Saratoga City Council in and re-elected in He served as a California delegate for President Joe Biden in and is presently the chair of the No on Measure A campaign Kumar who has referred to himself as a proven tax fighter announced the next assessor should be a property tax reformist A large part of his platform is supporting property tax exemptions for seniors While the county assessor does not have the power to exempt anyone from property taxes Kumar reported he plans to advocate for law to do so at the state level He has also considered a statewide ballot measure Seniors have done their part he noted Let s take that one factor away from their anguish which is the fact that they could be ejected from their homes because of rising taxes Kumar whose background is in program also wants to harness AI to help improve the office Using the tool for property appraisals and automating the appeals process he declared will save time and money These are problems we can fix with system and I don t know why we haven t done it he disclosed We should have started a while back but we are sort of stuck in the dark ages Kumar has been endorsed by a coalition of local elected personnel including Cupertino Mayor Liang Chao Milpitas Mayor Carmen Montano former state Assemblymember Kansen Chu and Fremont Mayor Raj Salwan Yan Zhao Zhao was elected to the Saratoga City Council in and re-elected in She previously served on the city s planning commission for eight years and the Santa Clara County Commission on the Status of Women for nine years Since she terms out next year Zhao disclosed she wished to find a way she could continue making a difference in her region I feel like there is more that we can do to make this office work for the people she noted Zhao who has a background in electrical engineering and has worked for more than three decades in the semiconductor industry declared she wants to help bring the assessor s office into the st century Continuing the device update and making the office more efficient is her first priority Zhao also wants to improve the office s area engagement and hold workshops and seminars to ensure people understand property tax laws Every scarce years we get a new law and most of people are not aware of it she announced There are plenty of programs that people are not aware of either for seniors disabled and veterans you can apply for exemptions Countless people are not aware of it so I feel like it s significant that we bring the assessor s office to the district Zhao also has a long list of endorsements from local elected administrators including Rep Ro Khanna State Treasurer Fiona Ma Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President Otto Lee state Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens and state Sen Dave Cortese