Miller points to years of professional experience

By Dan MacArthur
North Forty News

Steve Miller contends Larimer County needs a seasoned professional as assessor to manage the growing complexity of the office and looming uncertainty in the real estate market.

"I have an understanding of what an assessor is and what an assessor does," he said confidently. "I understand how the big system works. I'm quite a well-rounded candidate."

Noting that he conducted six biennial reappraisals in his previous three-terms as assessor, Miller said his experience will be essential in future reappraisals. He predicted there will be many more variables to take into account with increasing foreclosures, a lower rate of real estate appreciation and even declining values in some parts of the county.

"There just are a lot of challenges," he said. "Today we're in a slump."

While the battle in the primary election centered largely on the record number of appraisal protests in the county, "protests are not the big issue, information is," said Miller.

For example, he said the assessor's office should make greater use of technology in making comparable values available to taxpayers. "You put that kind of stuff on the web and people don't have to come into the office to find out," he said. Then, based on the feedback received, property values can be constantly updated, Miller said.

He also supports appointing the previously proposed citizens group to review operations and suggest improvements in the office, providing the group is independent from the county commissioners.

He also plans to value properties based on four years of sales data rather than the traditional 18 months. Doing that, he said, would result in more realistic values rather than the "whipsawing" between extreme values.

His strength, Miller said, is his understanding of the office and residential real estate market because it represents 86 percent of the taxable real property in the county.

While he understands the technical side, Miller said the assessor's job is primarily a managerial one and, "I maintain I'm the only guy with any real management experience in the race."

It's a simple matter of competence that best qualifies him to return to the assessor's job, according to Miller.

"I have the experience. I've done appraisals in different markets. I know where the problems are," he said. "In this market I know how to do the best mass appraisals possible for the taxpayers."

Miller, 56, earned an undergraduate degree in English from Denver University and graduate degrees in accounting from Colorado State University.

A Navy flight officer from 1973 to 79, he has been a certified public accountant since 1984. Miller was temporarily appointed assessor in that year and again in 1989, to complete the term of assessor Ken Krinhop. Miller was elected to a full term that year and served until being term-limited.

He was named the state's first assessor of the year and served as president of the Colorado Assessors Association. Miller returned to his CPA practice after losing the Republican primary contest for the county treasurer's job in 2002.