"I Like Mike" for El Dorado County Assessor

By Michael Gordon

Your County Assessor is more than a job, there is no application, ONLY COMMITTMENT!!!

Your County Assessor is more than a job; there is no application, only commitment! The Assessor is your custodian of property and business tax records. Without leadership and experience in real estate and business, that custodianship may be just a regular job to some, not this guy!

I have the experience in being the custodian of your property. I have worked in the El Dorado County Assessors office for ten years plus three years in the Riverside County Assessor's office. My real estate and business experience covers 38 years. I have both public and private experience that will provide the assessor's office with the leadership to give all taxpayers an open door policy when it comes to assessments for taxation.

It's neither the assessors nor the assistant assessor that does the work of the assessor's office; it's the dedicated employees. An elected position should not be a political forum but should be based on the quality of leadership and experience. As assessor, I would not fill the assistant assessor position but use the funds directed to that position to secure employees jobs during these tough economic times. I would move to advance an existing senior supervising appraiser into a chief appraiser position as an employee that would cover some of the assistant assessor's duties. As Assessor I would take on any other responsibilities an assistant would have had. In fact I am not above applying my skills as a working appraiser as the need demands.

I am as committed as anyone can be to making the journey into the elected position of assessor for the purpose of getting it right, over just doing it the same way for so many years, of proposal's never accomplished, ideas that were led to believe they would flourish only to die on the vine. Changes that need to be made are talked about but not given life. Voids of direction and leadership equate to stagnation and lack of desire. Due to good people with dedicated hearts, employees go on with the purpose of getting the job done and that is why the assessors office has such a wonderful reputation of service, not because of current top management.

This office worked on property use codes as an employee team effort several years ago, to date no action! Your property and business records are stacked on desks in work piles, secured by a paper clip and or staples. Not an efficient way to handle paper! If your file of papers is large it just gets larger, there is no purge action and no policy or structure as to what to do? Storage is a concerning factor, paper less procedures are in the process to be sure, just last week an employee had five reams of waste, another employee corrected the problem in minutes.

Manufactured housing data needs a lot of fixing, there are confusing use codes, and parceling should be specific based. The elderly and handicapped need extra care as to services provided, like an out reach program, us to them. Our public needs education and answers by town hall meetings and news articles similar to those provided by real estate professionals every Friday.

Know what I found out? I was searching the net for paper folding equipment, as campaigns require letters to be mailed etc. therefore folding by out source or machine was my concern. I know that our office has tons of mailings that requires folding, so I asked a fellow employee, does this office have a folding machine? Oh sure was the answer, it has not worked for years! Do you know that such a machine in today's e-bay world, that would handle the office volume, is about three to five hundred dollars! As an employee, I had no choice but to let it go and walk away again, thinking only if I was the assessor. I would of cough up the dough and acquired a new machine in days, as the existing one was most likely so old that fixing it would not have made sense. It's called an efficient use of time, not politics.

It's always the small things that make a difference in ones life or experiences. The county assessor must provide good leadership along with integrity, dedication and commitment to all questions or concerns effecting property or business situations as relates to the California Tax Laws. You should be able to acquire understanding of all property and business taxation in a manner that is public service above all else. That public service will continue only with employees that are happy in their jobs due to the leadership support from the assessor. I am not your parrot. I am your custodian, an advocate for equal and just application of all aspects of legislation pertaining to your rights as a taxpayer.

I ask for your vote with the respect that such action is private and not judged based on any ones demands or promises but on their purpose and commitment.

Thank you for your time.... Respectfully,

Michael Gordon Candidate for EDC Assessor Vote / June 8th, 2010

Quiz: I currently have responsibility for assessments of 36 map books as to commercial (included residential income) I have an additional 7 map books where I do all properties in those assigned map books. The business division has approx. 9500 accounts and real property is responsible for over 130,000 property records. What experience do you think is most needed to run the assessor's office? Accounting or Real Estate!