EDITORIAL: Endorsement: Vince Robb is only qualified candidate for Contra Costa County Assessor

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Gus Kramer, Contra Costa County's "Bad Boy assessor," is retiring after 32 years.

Years frequently marred by scandals.

Civil grand jury accusations. Censure fights. Allegations of retaliation, sexual harassment, improper land dealings, etc. Kramer denied wrongdoing, but the damage to public trust has lingered.

Now, it's up to voters to choose among three candidates to replace Kramer - and determine who will oversee one of the most technical and financially critical offices in county government.

In California, property taxes provide about a fifth of local governments' revenues, funding everything from police and fire departments to libraries, parks and schools. And it falls on elected assessors to determine the taxable value of real estate and business property within counties.

In Contra Costa County, that means tracking far more than ranch houses in Walnut Creek or condos in Brentwood. Last year, the county's tax roll exceeded $290 billion. Among the 382,000 parcels tracked annually by the 180-person office are oil refineries in Richmond, life science labs in Hercules, financial service IT centers in Concord and logistics hubs in Antioch.

In other words, this is a complicated job. It requires mastery of California valuation law, depreciation schedules, commercial appraisal standards and appeals procedures that can take years to understand.

Vincent Robb is the only qualified candidate on June 2 ballots.

Robb, 43, started working in the Assessor's Office a year after graduating college two decades ago, and he never left. Since becoming assistant county assessor in 2023, he has overseen nearly every division and function of the office, spanning mapping, ownership changes and exemptions. And he has managed appraisals across every property type.

Robb is the only candidate with an appraiser license or any direct experience performing appraisals and assessments.

Caveat emptor

However, he comes with an asterisk.

As the right-hand man to Kramer for the last couple years, he is entering this race in the shadow of a man whose tenure was defined by scandals, including allegations that he used his power to punish his political enemies with inflated assessments.

While nearly all of Kramer's alleged wrongdoing happened before Robb became a senior leader in the office, Robb himself was mentioned in a lawsuit against the county by a former department employee who accused him of race- and gender-based harassment and discrimination.

That case was settled and dismissed, and an independent investigation found that those claims could not be substantiated.

Robb admitted to our editorial board that the Assessor Office's reputation needs repair. And he acknowledged that Kramer damaged public trust and made the office "a bit more political than it probably should be."

If elected, Robb told us he would rebuild relationships with local agencies, modernize property-tax systems and expand public education on assessments, exemptions, exclusions and Proposition 19.

He says he has already changed internal reporting structures, participated in property-tax system work groups and trained staff to better explain assessments to the public.

Despite the past turmoil surrounding this office, there is good reason to conclude it is a well-oiled machine working as it should. Audits by the California Board of Equalization have found it is compliant with state standards. In the most recent analysis, the Board of Equalization reviewed the office's assessments and found they were more than 99% accurate. They noted areas for improvement, but nothing in the Board's reports signal that the Assessor's Office is corrupt or dysfunctional.

Understandable reservations

Many Contra Costa County voters want a clean break from Kramer. Under different circumstances, we could relate.

But the two other candidates in this race are not qualified.

Nick Spinner, 39, is a Crocket-based computer scientist and software and systems engineer who works for the county. He told our editorial board that he would use his experience maintaining the systems shared by the Assessor's, Tax Collector's and Auditor-Controller's offices to upgrade their technologies. This office and nearly every other assessor's office in the state need newer systems, but this is not an IT job. Its main mission is appraisals and defending billions of dollars in assessed value that help keep city, county and school services funded.

Kismat Kathrani, 52, offers a variation on Spinner's same IT pitch. Based in San Ramon, Kathrani is president of a software company, which he says has helped government agencies automate. He told us he could use his two decades of experience managing large teams in the tech industry to transform the Assessor's Office with AI.

But like Spinner, Kathrani has no appraisal experience. Moreover, Kathrani's company has neither produced appraisal software nor ever helped any assessor's office. We are not convinced he could transform an office he does not understand.

Pure and simple, there is only one qualified candidate.

Elect Vince Robb.

To read our endorsements of other key races on East Bay voters' June 2 ballots and to read our interviews with dozens of candidates, please visit eastbaytimes.com/opinion/endorsements/.

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