For Mono County Assessor, it’s Beck v. Musil

Both candidates for Mono County Assessor have a long history with the department, and both appear poised to bring an end to the long-running game of Musical Chairs which has plagued the Assessor’s Office over the past decade.

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Bob Musil

Current Mono County Assessor, Robert “Bob” Musil, has only been in office since September 2013, after being appointed by the Board of Supervisors to finish the previous term left vacant by Jody Henning when she resigned in 2012. “In the last 9 years there have been 6 people in charge of the Assessor’s Office,” Musil said. “I have experience managing in private industry and [the supervisors] wanted somebody who could bring professionalism and stability back into the office.”

Musil’s campaign platform is just that— stability. Musil praised the staff in his office, but said they haven’t been able to build momentum due to the constant change in leadership. “They have to know there is going to be somebody there leading them,” he said.  “And they have to have confidence in the person doing that. And they have to know what to expect.”

Musil has spent much of his time in office catching up on the workload, including the large number of property tax appeals that have been building up since the economic downturn in 2008/09. Musil is optimistic regarding the assessment appeals, resolving 140 since September. There are still two large unresolved claims involving Mammoth Mountain Ski Area and the Casa Diablo Geothermal Plant, which Musil has outside consultants working on.

Musil also stated the need to assess over 1,600 mining claims throughout the Mono County. “Honestly I don’t know if the amount of revenue will equal the amount of staff time it will take to do it,” he said. “But it is still something that we are required to do by law.”

“The office has just been gutted and because of the economic downturn, our workload has actually increased,” Musil said, justifying the hiring of two new positions in the Assessor’s Office since September. “I have to make sure that we have enough staff to get all the work done that we are required to do. And do it efficiently.” Musil has moved some of the Assessor’s information and paperwork to online forms and is in the process of converting the office from paper to an electronic system in order to improve efficiency.

“The Assessor’s Office is kind of boring,” Musil admitted. “It’s really only a technical job.  So that’s why a lot of people don’t know what we do.”The Assessor’s Office, through its collection of property taxes, is responsible for over half of the general fund for Mono County, funding many of the county services that citizens rely on. Musil is tracking the property tax roll and communicating his projections to the County in order to help prepare the budget for next fiscal year.  “At this point, I am optimistic we will have a positive roll, and the budget will be up for the first time since 2009,” Musil said.

Musil began his professional career with the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office in 1989 before coming to work for Mono County in 1992. He grew up hiking in the Eastern Sierra and dreamed of living here. “I thought it would be great to be working here and have a sign that said ’gone to the mountains,’” Musil said.  “But I never thought it would happen. I got lucky and it did.”

Musil worked at the Mono County Assessor’s Office from 1992-1999 and then again from 2006-2009, where he held the position of Assistant Assessor. He ran unsuccessful campaigns for Assessor in 2002 and 2008, after which his contract as the Assistant Assessor was terminated in 2009. Regardless of rumors stating otherwise, Musil said his termination “was just simply that: I ran and lost. [Henning] wanted somebody that she was more familiar with, that she had that level of trust with,” he said.  “It was not because of job performance.”

Despite his previous experience, Musil decided to run for Assessor again in order to maintain continuity of leadership within the office. “To be honest, I’m not a good campaigner,” Musil admitted. “I enjoy the technical aspect of the job. I’m very good at it. But I’m not good at going out and selling myself.”

Visit Musil’s Facebook page for more about his campaign.

Barry Beck

Barry Beck has a plan— a 24-point plan to be exact. Beck, who also was considered by the Board of Supervisors to take over after Henning resigned, developed this plan over two years ago when he decided to run for Mono County Assessor. “The Assessor’s Office is the beginning of the county’s primary income stream,” Beck said.  “The last few years we have not been holding up our end of the deal.”

From the long list of assessment appeals, to customer service practices, to implementing productivity standards, Beck promises to cut back costs with every point on his plan. “There’s all these things, and none of them are going to be that hard to fix,” Beck said. “We could start saving money tomorrow, if I were in office.”

Working in the Mono County Assessor’s office for 11 years has given Beck perspective and insight about the reputation of the office and possible solutions to change it. “The Assessor’s Office has been seen as kind of the black eye on county services,” Beck said. “To be honest the reputation is pretty well earned. The Assessor’s Office has always had this confrontational customer service style.”

The election “is an opportunity to change a lot of those things— to change the outlook that the taxpayer has about our office,” according to Beck. “I’ve seen a number of mistakes that have been made and I see that we are still operating in an old school style of government. Spend as much as we can, as much as they will give us.”

Beck’s idea of efficiency is reducing staff costs by cutting the outside consultants and lawyers used in the large appeal cases, using the expertise of people already working in the office, and having a working assessor who takes on some of the caseload. He brought recent statistics to his interview with the Sheet, comparing Mono County’s Assessor’s Office staff workload to that of other counties in California to prove his point.

“The workload is actually pretty light. About one third the caseload of what other counties have per appraiser,” Beck said. “If I were elected as Assessor, I would be a working Assessor. I would be contributing to the workload and the Assistant Assessor would as well.” Beck said he would continue working as a commercial appraiser, handling the most complex cases for the office in order to “to keep [my] finger on the pulse of the market.”

“Rather than sitting insulated in that office I want to participate,” said Beck.  “I need to know what is going on in the county. One of the great things about living in a small county is that most of the major players you’ll see them in Vons or running around town.”

Beck, who has “lived somewhere along Highway 395 about [his] entire life,” worked as a commercial pilot before coming to work for the Assessor’s office. He’s involved in the community on a variety of different levels, from coaching little league and sports at Lee Vining and Bridgeport schools, to voluntarily running the Mono County Search and Rescue and he is a member of the Bridgeport Valley RPAC.

“The appeals situation is completely out of hand,” Beck said. He criticized the office for taking the maximum two years to resolve appeals saying that the attitude has been “if the taxpayer has the audacity to make the appeal, then they can wait the full two years.” If the finding is in favor of the claimant, the county has to repay the over-assessments with interest for those two years.

“We have not handled these appeals in an efficient and timely manner,” Beck said. “Mr. Musil has worked on these, but he is still skirting the big appeals. We need to get these settled so that the county can get this paid off and we can move forward.”

About the unpatented mining claims, Beck said: “This has been an ongoing issue for years and we’re not allowed to ignore it. Why is the office looking the other way?” Although he also doesn’t know what kind of revenue these claims will bring into the county, Beck is confident the office can handle the workload and said that not taxing the claimants “isn’t fair to all the other taxpayers who are paying their fair share.”

Beck fought hard for the Assessor’s position when Henning resigned and “respectively disagrees with the Board,” about the appointment of Musil. “I don’t think it was widely known that he had two unsuccessful stints in our office.”

“Perhaps Mr. Musil offers himself as the answer to the stability problem but you have to remember how many times he’s been in and out of that office,” Beck said. “I’ve been there 11 consecutive years as a contributing member of staff and I hope for a chance to prove that.”

Visit Beck’s website for more details about his campaign.