Why Is There an Assessor’s Office?

Since its inception, property ownership has been a cornerstone of the American economic system, with our government designed around this assumption. While we have thankfully evolved away from the original concept where owning property was required to vote for your governmental representatives, property remains a keystone of our legal system. Property taxes are the basis for many services we take for granted, and continue to fund most of California’s civic institutions. The Assessor’s Office is essential in this process, as it determines the property valuations that are used in calculating these taxes. Hence why the Assessor is an elected position in local government, as an accurate and fairly-administered system of property assessments is crucial to maintain public trust, as well as integral to the revenues that cities and counties depend on.

This is the basic function of the Assessor’s Office, although there are many more services it can provide. Some of these services are within the discretion of the individual Assessor’s administrative capacity, such as performing public outreach efforts or spearheading assessment-relevant data sharing improvements between county and municipal governments. Though each county may allocate additional, legally assigned duties to the office if doing so is seen as appropriate. Taking San Mateo County as an example: the Assessor there also is assigned the roles of Clerk-Recorder & Chief Elections Officer.