Kevin Ross of Gilbert wants his reputation back, and Maricopa County Assessor Keith Russell just might have to get out of his way.
Ross is challenging Russell in the Sept. 2 Republican primary for the office that Ross held for almost eight years before he was convicted in 2008 on a felony charge that was later overturned and dismissed. This race has received almost no attention compared to contests for sheriff and county attorney. But Ross did buy some splashy elections ads in the Tribune over the weekend, demonstrating that he’s serious about regaining a position of public trust.
When Russell, then a Mesa-based private appraiser, first went after Ross as the incumbent in 2004, few doubted Ross would be re-elected. Ross was generally recognized for running a tight fiscal ship during his first two terms while working to limit the impact of rising private property values on county assessments which are used to calculate property taxes. Ross also had championed a constitutional exemption for low-income senior citizens so they could freeze county assessments on their homes.
But then Ross was accused by state Attorney General Terry Goddard of misusing that new law and the assessor’s office to seek personal profit. Ross had reached a private business deal to use a list of senior citizens who applied for home assessment freezes to market reverse mortgages to them. Goddard’s office claimed Ross had to use confidential information to put the list together and filed felony charges against him.
Ross didn’t make any money from the reverse-mortgage deal, but Russell benefited heavily from the criminal charges against his opponent and won the 2004 elections. Then Ross was stripped of his title in December 2004 after a trial court convicted him of conflict of interest.
Almost a year later, the Arizona Court of Appeals threw out the conviction, saying the information that Ross used came from public records and he didn’t violate state laws. By this point, Ross had spent more than $100,000 in legal fees and his name was sullied.
So in late January 2008, Ross filed notice that he wanted $8 million from Goddard’s office and Maricopa County. On Feb. 1, the Tribune wrote an editorial suggesting he would do far more to regain his lost reputation if he campaigned for and won back the office of county assessor.
Ross told me in a telephone call shortly after the editorial was published that he understood the reasoning of the Tribune Editorial Board. But Ross explained he was looking at a lawsuit because he wanted someone to say in black-and-white that he had been wronged — and there’s no guarantee he could win an election.
I responded there were no guarantees Ross could win a lawsuit, either, and it didn’t make sense to demand a huge amount of money from the same taxpayers that Ross had pledged to protect.
Eventually, Ross took the high road, and now Russell has to make an affirmative case to Maricopa County voters that he deserves a second term.
Russell’s stewardship hasn’t received any significant criticism. But he does face lingering resentment from a number of property owners because their market values have dropped this year but their county assessments are still rising.
Russell has a credible explanation: state law limits the amount that a county assessment for individual parcels can climb each year. So many county assessments fell far behind market increases between 2005 and 2007 and still need to catch up.
The question this year is whether enough Republican voters have heard and understand Russell’s explanation, or whether they believe Ross could handle the state limits differently.
 Kevin Ross seeks the right kind of revengeAugust 5th, 2008, 3:55 pm · 12 Comments · posted by Le Templar12 CommentsLeave a Reply
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Le,
Very interesting. I’d be curious to hear what Ross has to say about county assessments rising despite the property value drops. Russell’s explanation sounds legit, but it would be valuable to gain insight into how Ross would’ve handled the same situation.
Lindsey
Mr. Templar has hit the nail on the head - Kevin Ross was hung out to dry by our own overzelous Terry (who’ll stop at nothing to be governor) Goddard. His partisianship is undisputed and Ross deserves to have his job back. Ross has a strong constitution and an even stronger character. His opponent was just in the right place at the right time (coincidence?)
Ross did a wonderful job as assessor, understands the job very well and is a strict conservative who will look out for the citizens of Maricopa County. Even if you believed the current occupant of the Assessors office was doing a wonderful job - you’d do well to vote for Kevin Ross and give him his job back and right the injustice.
Please don’t forget what kind of person Terry Goddard is when he attempts to become our next Govenor.
Kevin Ross would have never let the “assessed” values get that out of hand in the first place. He would have used a lower assessed value percentage in the midst of the housing bubble so as to not cause all the various governing bodies to get used to that much money in the first place, when it would have to just be taken back when the bubble burst.
Mr. Templar’s “What I Know” opinion as always was interesting. I understand most of it was about my opponent Mr. Ross and his history but I got a few lines about my history and I need to clarify a few points.
First, let me state for the record I am running on my history not my opponents. I believe I deserve a second term because of what I have accomplished. I ran four years ago because I was convinced we need a professional appraiser heading up the Assessors Office. The education, training, experience that comes from working in the valuation industry is essential to understanding the details of the Assessors Office. Understanding these details is essential to generating fair and equitable assessments. One easy examples of how understanding details relates to fair and equitable assessments can be demonstrated by the difference between my opponent and myself on the question of annual assessments. This year I reduced the market value assessment (Full Cash Value) of over 900,000 single-family residences. Next year if re-elected I will make a similar reduction. The only reason we can make reductions two years in a row is because I changed the policy of my opponent from revaluing residential properties every other year to doing them every year. We all understand home values are falling. Does anyone really want to wait two years or more to see their assessments go down? My opponent is still trumpeting his old policy. On the Arizona Republic’s web site you can read his opinion on how he wants to make the office run more efficiently … “Move to a multi year Assessment process in order to eliminate the cost of annual assessments and appeals.” This may have some appeal until you look beyond the sound bite. The Assessors Office gets approximately $15.00 for every tax parcel/account. Most of this money goes to things like ownership changes, splitting parcels, collecting new construction details etc. These processes will have to continue in either a multi-year assessment process or a single year assessment process. Therefore the cost savings per property owner will be minimal. But if we still had a multi-year policy you would not see any reduction next year on your homes assessment.
Now for the clarification of a few points, in the opinion it stated that I face lingering resentment from some property owners “because their market values have dropped this year but their county assessments are still rising.” What I face is the challenge of letting everyone know that 94% of all the single family residences in Maricopa County saw a reduction in the only assessed value any Assessor has control over, the market value or the Full Cash Value. The second assessed value or the Limited Property Value changes are based on a statutory formula that only the legislature can change. The assessments on the Limited Property Value did go up for most residences but the law required them to increase no matter whom the Assessor was. Explaining this is absolutely is a challenge, but it does not help when the paper says, “assessments are still rising” when that is only part of the story.
Hats off to Mr. Ross. I say dont get mad, get re-elected! By the way it is worth mentioning that Fred Kelly former Deputy Assessor to Mr. Ross was working on Keith Russels campaign (while still employed as deputy assessor!) Isn’t that interesting! Gee I wonder what kind of “insider” info a mole like that could get on an incumbents campaign. Russel knowingly hired Fred Kelly to work on his election for The Assesors office while Kelly was still Deputy Assessor in Ross’s administration! In my opinion, anyone who would knowingly try to undermine his opponents campaign, comprimise the security and trust of the office deserves NO public trust and should be tossed out on there ear!
“market values have dropped this year but their county assessments are still rising.”
That’s the only issue; all else is trivia. I’m voting for Ross.
Maybe I am only one of 6%, but I have seen my Full Cash Value assessments increase by 35% in 2007, 16% in 2008 and 11% in 2009 and the total increase is 74% since 2006. Something is wrong when we see these kind of increases continuing into a real estate market that is falling off a cliff. I live in Northwest Phoenix - not in one of those Cental Phoenix, Scottsdale or PV enclaves where prices have held up. I don’t know what our “Certified Appraiser” assessor is doing to others, but he is sure shafting me.
It is extremely difficult to read Mr. Russell’s phony baloney explanation on values when he starts his response with a lie. Does anybody really believe that Mr. Russell ran for the Assessor’s job because he felt an office that had received national awards and recognition for efficiency needed a professional appraiser? Don’t they already have tons of professional appraisers? You think it is possible that he ran for that office because he is an opportunist who was in the loop on Mr. Ross’s phony indictments? Why else did he hire the states top witness against Mr Ross as his chief deputy? Why did I receive a recorded phone message from him before the last election informing me of Mr. Ross’s phony indictments? You lied to the press and more importantly, to the voters! You should be ashamed of yourself, Mr. Russell!
Why would I want to return to office the person who has overseen the office which caused my property taxes to increase by 30% this past year. This is about the same time that the market was busting from the mortgage crisis. The reduction that Mr Russell speaks to is a far cry from the increase I realized a couple of years ago. I was researching who to support in the republican primary coming up and I believe I have an answer to my question. Thanks for the article on the election occurring for this office.
Nice to see the all of Mr. Ross’s old buddies know how to blog. Mr. Russell has done a fine job. He doesn’t deserve to be voted out. He’s got my vote.
I’m in the Ross corner as well, but Kevin, I have to tell you—the recorded phone call messages I get from you when I answer my phone, have you speaking so quickly, and so animated, you sound more like a used car salesman than a prospective assessor, and in my book, they actually take away from your credibility. You might want to slow down; you’ll come off sounding much more the sincere Kevin Ross I know you are.
I agree with Bob. I know neither of the men running, so I was on a search of facts to decide who should get my vote. I read with interest Mr. Russels explaination of the Full Cash Value vs. Limited Property value. So, I pulled my tax notices. From ‘05 to ‘06 my values went up 15%. Then from ‘07 to ‘08 , after the market had started it’s decline my Full Cash Value (the one Mr Russell says he can control) rose by $46,000 (over 22%) and the LPV $28000 (almost 20%). Now, I have to admit I have seen a reduction for 2009, but when you subract the decrease in FCV from the increase of the LPV I only see a reduction of a little more than $10,000. That doesn’t seem like much to me after the almost $75,000 increase in 2007! So, I’d like to give Mr. Ross a chance to see if he can do better. Good Luck!