A Guilloony Idea

This week's worst idea in government prize goes to Tax Assessor Webster Guillory for asking for a temporary 29-person increase in Assessor's staff to sneak through your bushes to see if you've installed that new pool.

Guillory's snookered us before with the very questionable and barely legal recapturing technique which pushes up your property tax bill by manipulating Prop. 13.  The Register took the right position this morning in More snoops? Slow down, agreeing with Supervisor Campbell (presumably sensing no union pressure) that this was one bad idea.

Guillory needs to ASSESS, manage his bureaucratic kingdom and lunch with the realtors, not be hiring a hit squad of propertyrazzis to take pictures of your new patio.  We'll bet that nowhere in Webster's job description does it say to find creative ways to screw the tax base.  Web, just because three Supervisors stepped in it with their pension spike, doesn't mean you have to figure out how to pay for it.

Comments

[Screech]

Webster Guillory is apparently a pro-tax democrat. Remember that when you go to the polls, he is ELECTED.

When he announced he was not running again Brad Jacobs said as the elected assessor he was the independent arbitrator of property values, so he couldn't be involved in any schemes to increase assessments.

Guillory apparently has no problem with actively trying to find more assessed value, even where none exists under the law.

[Plas Jaramillo]

I knew Webster Guillory both at the County and in private business. He is a fine person and a great manager. IMO he does not deserve the criticism he is getting.