Libertarian wants to correct management problems

By Dan MacArthur
North Forty News

Jesse Herron doesn't find it at all inconsistent that a tax-loathing Libertarian would seek to head the assessor's office that sets the values on which property taxes are based.

"What we want to do with the office doesn't conflict with the office," he explained. Rather, Herron said, he and his supporters want to correct the management problems. He said they became abundantly apparent with the fierce infighting and angry allegations arising during the rough Republican primary.

"Most of the problems are managerial," Herron contended. "I want to overhaul and correct the system."

"We believe the government is providing a service to the citizens, and it should be run like a business. We want to convert this into a completely customer-service organization," he continued.

Herron said he would reduce the number of assessment appeals from the record of nearly 14,700 in 2005 by introducing a simplified process with automatic appeals triggered year-round when a property's value increases above a predetermined amount. "Why is it you have to come in to appeal in a 30-day window?" he asks.

His first action as assessor, Herron said, would be appointing the volunteer citizens oversight committee similar to the one once supported but later scuttled by current assessor Larry Johnson. Johnson lost the primary election to former assessor Steve Miller.

Herron said the committee would scrutinize every aspect of the assessor's office and review appeals from an objective perspective. The goal, he said, is to resolve as many protests as possible before they progress to next appeal levels before the county commissioners or the state board of assessment appeals.

"We want to reduce the number of appeals that go that far," he said.

While there has been great debate over the wisdom of hiring outside contractors to develop property assessment models, Herron said he would have no reservations about doing so providing it's less expensive and the results are the same.

"The number one job as a civil servant is to reduce the cost for Larimer County," he said,

Herron doesn't believe his lack of political and technical experience would hinder his performance as assessor. "You don't need to have experience with the office; you just need a good manager," he said. "The assessor is the person who runs the office. I don't want to get caught up in every little micromanagement of the office."

In fact, Herron said, an outside perspective could benefit the office. "I don't have a preconceived notion of how this job should be accomplished," he said. "I can come in with a totally fresh look."

Herron, 37, lives between Fort Collins and Loveland. He owns an online bookstore offering politically provocative books not readily available from retailers. He moved here six years ago from his native Indiana, where he collaborated in creating a community-based corrections program and sold surveillance equipment to the police and military. Herron earned an undergraduate degree from Southern Indiana University.