Get the facts on the California candidates running for election to the Assessor — Santa Clara County
Find out their top 3 priorities, their experience, and who supports them.
Online Candidate Forum
This candidate forum was hosted by the League of Women Voters Los Altos-Mountain View in coordination with the other local Leagues of Santa Clara County. It was held on May 5, 2022 at 7:00pm
I’m proud of my long record as Santa Clara County’s Assessor and of my office’s reputation as a “gold standard” Assessment Office. Property taxes are wallet issues – if we do these wrong, taxpayers can end up paying the wrong amounts; schools, roads, and public safety may not get the steady revenue they need.
My office does not experiment with your money. In years past, some wanted us to replace our current computer system with a “newer model” – we held firm because none of the new models were tested. Riverside County took the plunge and ended up millions overbudget on a system that was plagued with problems. We waited and will soon put forward an RFP knowing there are now multiple proven vendors. Throughout my tenure, I’ve carefully watched our budget – while assessment rolls have increased 402%, my staff has increased just 3.1%. We’ve returned $20.3 million to the general fund.
I’ve been watching the dollars and cents in Santa Clara County for over two decades. I’m ready to keep making sure the Assessor’s Office is guided by an experienced and steady hand.
I am a Certified Public Accountant, Financial Analyst, California Board of Equalization certified Appraiser, and candidate running for Santa Clara County Assessor.
I have arrived where I am via a lifetime of service, having been raised in a small rural community in Monterey County as part of a family who always sought to serve others. We were that family that was always the last to leave community events - even ones we were guests at - because we stayed to help clean up. This civic focus taught me that whenever I was in a position to serve, there is a duty to try and serve. Hence, when it became clear that the Santa Clara County Assessor’s Office was under duress, and my technical qualifications were a match to deal with the task of upgrading the office to modern standards, it was logical for me to file paperwork to become a candidate.
My first political act was when I worked to save the whales when I was 5 years old, saving up spare change in a coffee can so I could send it to Greenpeace. From that point I have always maintained a keen interest in environmental responsibility, fascinated by the science of observing, measuring, mediating, and ultimately reversing environmental damage. You can see this in my stance to implement Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (https://www.sasb.org/) practices for the Assessor’s Office, so we can track and manage the actions of the office to attain carbon neutrality.
We all know the world has many challenges it faces, so we prioritize where we put our efforts into based on our values. For me, I have long championed the democratic ideal of a compassionate, informed and engaged civic life. This is best demonstrated by my regular volunteering as an Election Officer for the County Registrar of Voters in every election since 2008, having served as both a Precinct Inspector and Field Inspector regularly over more than a decade.
This commitment to civic empowerment also is attested to in my long history of public education efforts. Whether these efforts are through historical educational theater combatting pernicious myths with entertaining, fact-informed inclusive history-telling, or through traditional activism with labor and progressive causes, including phone banking, canvassing, and educational advocacy, my motivation has always been to uplift my fellow citizens such that they can better reflect the fact-informed voter ideal. Considering how charged the discussion of assessment law has become in recent years, I look forward to being able to lend my expertise in grounding the public discourse in clear, relevant factual knowledge through regular educational outreach in the years ahead.
To conclude, I share with you a few factual highlights of my life. I am a graduate of UC Santa Cruz (Go Banana Slugs!) with a pre-law focused double major in politics & philosophy. I pivoted my education after I moved to Santa Clara County in 2008, earning several A.A. degrees and professional certificates in accounting, business, and computer information systems from De Anza Community College, out of which I earned both my CPA and Appraiser certifications. My wife and I are long-time homeowners, with her working as a technical writer and myself working for the County of Santa Clara since 2010, having been an active union member with both Service Employees International Union Local 521 and the County Employee Management Association during that time. I presently work as a Healthcare Financial Analyst at Valley Medical Center. As Assessor, I intend to contribute to an inclusive and equitable future for all County residents, in a way worthy of the best aspects of America’s history.
The political philosophy I follow is called Social Democracy.
As I see it, there are two interrelated principles that guide this philosophy: the empowerment of citizens, and fact-informed civil discourse.
The empowerment of citizens is not just the right to vote, but the active cultivation of civic virtues among citizens. Civic virtues include exercising the right to vote, defending other citizen's right to vote, a commitment to respect other citizens (especially one's political opponents), as well as the duty to make political participation an inviting and hospitable environment. Important metrics to measure this civic empowerment include the rate of voter turnout in elections, as well as researching whether or not citizens have the means to run for office, are willing to run for office, or can even imagine themselves (or someone like themself) on the ballot. In a Social Democracy, if any of these metrics are low, it is our obligation to take actions that improve the metrics.
Fact-informed civil discourse goes back to the birth of modern democracy in the Enlightenment era, as articulated in philosopher David Hume's "An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals", which described the necessity to distinguish facts from basic values. In Social Democracy, there is a recognition that valuing fact-informed discourse is a key part of citizen empowerment - as it creates a civic common ground where we productively discuss the issues we face together. Whether those issues be climate change, civil rights, public health, or the housing crisis - when citizens can see the value in data collection and understand the means by which scientifically grounded analysis of that data is produced, the resulting factually informed citizens are more effective at improving their own lives, as well as crafting and voting for policies that measurably make the world a kinder, more prosperous, and equitable place.
Social Democracy is the philosophic foundation for my run for Santa Clara County Assessor. When I speak of public service and the centrality of data transparency, it is in service to this vision of engaged citizens, armed with the relevant factual data, empowered as responsible voters and civic servants. In this paradigm, the Assessor has a duty to engage in public education and outreach about the services of the office. Additionally, as a steward of public data, the Assessor has a duty to see that its information is used for the benefit of our community and society, for doing anything less would be failure under this philosophy.
If you would like to learn more about Social Democracy, please view the excellent historical account of its development in "How Denmark Invented Social Democracy" on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mExN99kHMB0
The mission of the Assessor’s Office is to inventory all taxable property in the County, assess each property's value according to specific parameters defined by law, and maintain a database of property characteristics to aid in making these assessments. However, the Assessor’s Office can provide additional public benefit through public outreach, making property characteristics data more readily available for analysis, and by embracing current technology to better serve its constituents.
Unlike many elected offices, the County Assessor does not work to create public policy. The Assessor’s Office, codified in the original California Constitution of 1850, is purely administrative. Its core responsibility is to annually determine and record property assessment values used in calculation of property taxes. However, there are many discretionary duties that are left up to the judgment of the individual Assessors. This is because our forebears trusted their elected officials to work for the public good in whatever capacity they saw fit, responsive to the circumstances of their era.
We are now in the 2020s. The public trust that was invested in the office over 170 years ago has the opportunity to evolve in new ways to serve needs that were not envisioned even 50 years ago, let alone at the dawn of California statehood. Just as the Santa Clara Valley has evolved from orchards and agriculture to technology and innovation, the Santa Clara County Assessor’s Office needs to evolve and innovate to meet the challenges of both the present and the future.
The Assessor serves as a custodian of information with a duty to share it under certain circumstances, and is also given discretion, with some legal restrictions, to provide that information generally to the public. One of the required duties is providing property owners with a statement of assessed value on their properties on a yearly basis. Another is maintaining a database of relevant information about characteristics of all assessable properties within the county. In the modern age of data analytics, a great deal of insightful statistics can be mined out of this data. Information that could be put to work in providing insights in numerous areas, though its usefulness in analyzing the housing crisis is of particular interest.
They say that knowledge is power, and the knowledge extracted from this data will be a powerful tool. Just one of the insights we could glean from this would be a countywide snapshot of the patterns of property ownership and usage, which would clearly reveal some of the contributing factors in the housing crisis. However, in Santa Clara County, this characteristics report is only available at an intimidating price. Unless the requester pays a phenomenal amount of money (over $47,000), they cannot receive this report. Most counties in the US provide this information for free not just to stakeholders such as nonprofit organizations & government agencies, but to anyone who wants a copy. In the counties that do charge a nominal fee for the data, their application for the data includes a section where one can request a fee waiver - Santa Clara County does not provide this option on its data request application. So even though California law explicitly allows Assessors to waive this fee, our county does not inform the public that this is even an option - one must independently know they have the right to ask for it, and even with the right to ask, the Assessor can legally decline requests arbitrarily. So, by creating an application where the only option to get the data is to pay $47,195.00 by cash or check (no credit cards) - an amount greater than the budget of many nonprofits - exactly who does this serve? It certainly is not the average resident of Santa Clara County who suffers the consequences of this artificial data void. My firm belief is that the cost charged for this data should be brought into conformity with the rest of the nation, and the Assessor’s Office adopt a publicly known policy of waiving the fee for any and all nonprofit and government agencies that request it.
Other opportunities are also available for better serving the property owners of Santa Clara County just in terms of convenience. Most are not aware of services that are provided by the Assessor’s Office. Who knew that you could request to meet with a certified appraiser to discuss concerns ranging from challenging an assessment value to finding out how to transfer your tax basis to a new property? The Assessor’s Office provides this service - and presently does not promote this fact. Considering the number of county residents who moved here from other states or nations, assuming that people know these services are available is a major disservice to our residents. Outreach is imperative. The minimum standard that most counties follow is to maintain online web pages where the Assessor’s Office details all of the services they offer concerning property ownership and purchase, as well as supplemental relevant information for first time property buyers. Though in 2022, it is now expected that Assessor’s Offices should have a robust social media presence that provides regular content about the Assessor’s Office services to the public. Additionally, outreach ought to be performed in ways that are responsive to our residents' linguistic diversity, so that any resident who has a need for our services can access them.
The pandemic has brought public awareness to online meeting forums such as Zoom, and this or a similar platform could be used to schedule remote meetings with people whose ability to travel to the County government offices is limited either by health, distance, or lack of transit. Just as we no longer pay our taxes with gold and silver coins as was the custom when the Assessor’s Office was established, we no longer need to be bound to older means of doing business. After all, Silicon Valley is at the heart of innovation!
The data and the services provided by the Santa Clara County Assessor’s Office are ours: we paid for them with our taxes. They should be readily available to whomever has need of them. After all, public service is what it’s for!
The Santa Clara County Assessor’s Office provides numerous opportunities for improvement in serving the public and its employees. Public outreach, education, and a refreshed service culture will allow residents to better employ the services provided by the office. Making data more accessible through administrative changes and upgrading the database will aid in the study of housing issues. Embracing technical innovations to provide greater accessibility to the office through online video conferencing & greater flexibility through hybrid work will bring the office into the 21st century.
The main duty of the Santa Clara County Assessor’s Office is to assess the value of property and maintain a record of these valuations, which is used in calculation of property taxes. However, to the average property owner, this office is essentially a black box. Classification and assessment of property as well as services the Office can provide to the property owner are not well communicated to either present or potential property owners. Interactions with the office are not efficient, and sometimes are unduly difficult to navigate.
The Office of the County Assessor is, as defined in the California Constitution, a non-partisan elected office, whose function is primarily administrative. Many erroneously think of the Assessor’s Office as “the tax man,” which is not its function. While its valuations are used for calculating property taxes, it does not collect taxes but merely provides the property assessment data that is used in its calculation. This data can also be used to serve the public, as will be discussed later.
In addition to this primary function, the office also provides a range of services to the residents of the County. These public services are paid for by the budget of the office and include (but are not limited to):
The first-time homeowner is generally unaware of the ways in which the Assessor’s Office can provide benefits or services with regard to how their property’s assessment and resultant tax bill are managed. This is especially true for first-time buyers who come from backgrounds where property ownership is not a standard practice. Most people do not even know they can request to meet with a certified appraiser to discuss forms and guidelines for addressing various types of property issues, whether it be challenging an assessment, programs that qualify certain properties for reduced taxes, or how new construction or demolitions can impact assessed values. Presently the burden of knowledge falls upon the individual and their own research.
Additionally, there is no established culture of customer service to the broader Santa Clara County community in the current Assessor’s Office. Despite claims of high customer satisfaction with the office, many property owners have reported frustration in dealing with the office in general - especially those who have dealt with the present appeals process - feeling that their concerns are an inconvenience or annoyance to the bureaucracy. It is easy to manipulate and cherry-pick data, especially when there is no independent review of that data to ensure it is true and representative. How many of us have filled out a satisfaction survey that simply asks you to pick a number for how well your needs were met, when the relevant question would be asking how easy was it to have your needs met? Not to mention the surveys do not include those residents who require the services the Assessor’s Office provides who don’t know this office even exists. Dealing with the Assessor’s Office should be both easy and convenient, and we know that change follows the tone at the top. As Assessor, I will make sure both the customer and the employees will be respected and valued, because we know real comprehensive customer service comes naturally from employees who are valued for providing excellent service.
The office should also explore innovations that can better serve its public and its employees. The pandemic has shown us that working from home is just as productive as physical presence in the office, if not moreso. Moving forward, the office has an opportunity to embrace the model of hybrid work. This is even more valuable when working in the office has the chance of passing disease to fellow employees when essential functions can be accomplished at home, even if suffering from nothing more serious than a case of the sniffles. In the same mode, the Assessor’s Office has the potential to innovate by using online technology to bring customer service into the 2020s. By offering online meetings for transacting business with the Assessor’s Office to those who have difficulty getting to the county buildings, whether because of physical limitations, lack of transit, or other causes. The Assessor’s Office has the opportunity to both innovate and set an example for other agencies.
Another area where the Office is currently lagging is its woefully out-of-date database. This relic from circa 1980 was supposed to be updated decades ago, but has yet to be successfully upgraded. The current Assessor brags about how he has “saved” the office money during his tenure by, among other things, not investing in this necessary database upgrade. But this false economy will cost taxpayers approximately $2 for every $1 he gave back to the County General Fund during his 28 years in office. Database technology is evolving at a rapid pace, and has made so much more efficiency available. Modernization will not only increase functionality and ease the ability to export data for analysis, it will be able to provide this data service and storage at a decreased long-term storage cost.
And finally, the Assessor’s Office has an opportunity to make available all legally disclosable data contained in its records at a rate commensurate with other counties within the State of California. Currently, Santa Clara County charges $47,195.00 - the highest price in the nation by an order of magnitude - for the Assessor’s “Property Characteristics File,” which contains the data most relevant to analyzing the housing crisis. A price that is far beyond the budget of many nonprofit organizations, and certainly does not serve the common interest. In the 21st century, data is power, and making this data available to stakeholders would yield powerful insights into the housing crisis and the barriers preventing home ownership in this county.
Santa Clara County is the home of Silicon Valley, the global center of innovation. We have the opportunity to innovate to serve the residents of the county now and in the future. Shouldn’t we take it?
An introductory walk & talk video about how Andrew Crockett's experience with the Housing Crisis prompted him to run for Santa Clara County Assessor and his intention to use the office to help with the crisis in every way that it can.
Video Length: 2m:57s
Delaine Eastin, Former California Superintendent of Public Instruction, endorses Andrew Crockett, CPA for Santa Clara County Assessor. She outlines Andrew Crockett's main policy positions, including modernizing the office, optimizing employee productivity, investing in the office infrastructure (especially replacing the obsolete database), and refocusing the office's work around public service.
Video Length: 1m:48s
The official campaign song "Public Service is What It's For" musically summarizes what the Assessor's Office does, that Andrew Crockett has the qualifications to be Assessor, and that his primary focus will be shaping the office so that it can best serve the public.
Video Length: 2m:41s
A video showing Andrew Crockett CPA filing his Assessor candidate paperwork with the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters. Having met all qualifying experience for the duties, he is then sworn in as an official candidate for Santa Clara County Assessor.
Video Length: 2m:11s
Worldwide Climate Restoration expert Peter Fiekowsky endorses and has a conversation with Andrew Crockett, where they discuss Andrew's priorities for Santa Clara County's Assessor's Office. These include a renewed focus on public service, including enhanced data transparency & data sharing with organizations fighting the housing crisis.
Video Length: 4m:41s
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