Assessor backs off on forming task force

By Dan MacArthur
North Forty News

In an abrupt turnaround, Larimer County Assessor Larry Johnson has rejected creation of the citizens advisory task force that he had warmly embraced a few weeks earlier.

Johnson in a Sept. 6 discussion with the county commissioners insisted that he remained open to new ideas about improving operations of his office, which registered the greatest number of assessment appeals in the state this year.

But, he said, there would be no point establishing a joint task force with the commissioners as suggested earlier by members of Fair Assessment Reform. The citizens group was organized in July by residents irate about the dramatic and apparently arbitrary increases in property assessments this year.

"If somebody's got a better idea, we want to listen to it," Johnson said, while adding, "It (the assessor's office) can't be improved without additional resources. That's what I think they would come up with if there was a task force."

FAR organizer Gerry Horak said he was not upset about Johnson's reversal, but he was upset about the lack of communication in not informing him prior to the meeting. "Larry Johnson has a perfect right to change his mind; I was just surprised," Horak said.

He also scoffed at Johnson's claim that hiring additional staff was the only way to improve the property assessment process. Horak said approaches such as providing maps showing the "neighborhoods" used for assessment purposes would go a long way toward explaining the process and resolving conflicts.

"Back a few weeks ago I was pleased that you seemed open to working with all the folks who showed up that day," Commissioner Karen Wagner told Johnson at the meeting. "Today I get a different sense that you're not going to get anything out of this that's useful."

"If they need to know what the story is, I'm not going to hold them back," Johnson responded. He said, however, appointing a formal task force would be unnecessary and wrongly suggest there was some deficiency in his office.

"We have done everything possible to improve my office," Johnson said. "Larry Johnson has done a good job, our staff has done a good job, our results are less than acceptable."

Commissioner Kathay Rennels said she was not comfortable forming a joint task force with the assessor, who is an independent elected official. She and Commissioner Glenn Gibson also questioned the function of such a group.

"I don't see what we're trying to accomplish," Rennels said. "I'm not sure what a task force without a task is going to do."

She instead suggested Johnson and the FAR members establish an informal working group.

Horak said he and others in the group are still willing to work with Johnson. Group members have considerable knowledge and experience they're willing to apply toward improving the assessment process, Horak said.