King County Assessor

The Assessor’s office touches every person’s ability to stay in their home. Rising property taxes are pushing homeowners, renters, and small businesses out of their communities, and too many people don’t trust that the system is treating them fairly. King County needs an accurate, fair, and transparent Assessor’s office that works for everyone. I’m a fifth-generation Seattleite and the only candidate in this race who has actually done the valuation work this office depends on. As Senior Appraiser for the City of Seattle, I appraise public properties daily, ensuring real estate decisions serve the public interest. My career has included commercial valuation in the private sector. Serving as a Hearing Examiner on the King County Board of Appeals and Equalization, I’ve sat across the table from homeowners fighting to stay in their communities while corporate landowners brought teams of experts to secure tax reductions. I understand both sides of this system. I’ve lived in income-restricted housing. I know what financial pressure looks like from the inside, and it’s why I’m a proud PROTEC17 shop steward. I’ll bring real relief for homeowners and renters, and transparency and accountability to a system many people don’t fully understand. In Olympia, I’ll push to establish homestead protections for primary residences to help homeowners manage rising costs, and create a renter’s tax credit to give tenants relief from rising housing costs as well. I’m proud to be endorsed by the Seattle Times, the Stranger, King County Executive Girmay Zahilay, Chief Deputy Assessor Al Dams, King County Councilmembers Claudia Balducci, Sarah Perry, and Rhonda Lewis, King County Democrats, eleven legislative district Democratic organizations, Seattle Councilmembers Eddie Lin and Dionne Foster, multiple labor unions, and Danny Hagen, President of the Washington State Association of County Assessors, among others. They trust my professional expertise to lead this department.

The King County Assessor is far more than an appraiser–it’s absolutely a leadership role, of one of the largest public offices affecting every property owner. While the office does employ appraisal staff, the Assessor’s responsibility ensures the entire system operates transparently, consistently, fairly, and in accordance with the law. I have studied our property tax system from the taxpayers perspective, analyzing assessment data, researching mass appraisal practices, public records requests, appealing assessments, reviewing BoE decisions, and developed comprehensive audit proposals identifying significant areas for reform. That experience gives me something many candidates cannot claim: a taxpayer’s perspective on how the system actually functions in practice. My campaign isn’t about making minor adjustments to the status quo. It’s about pursuing meaningful, system-wide reforms that protect taxpayers, strengthen property rights, ensures due process and helps ensure people aren’t taxed out of their homes. Government should be judged by results–not intentions. Our current assessment system is required to produce fair and uniform assessments, but if that system does not produce the results required by law, we have a responsibility to examine it honestly, measure its performance, and improve it. Property owners deserve information they can understand. They deserve parcel-specific breakdowns on their individual property valuations–not simply a final number. They deserve due process, timely appeals and logical evidentiary standards, and should never need to become valuation experts or pay for professional help, simply to challenge their assessment. I’m a King County resident, small business owner, and President of the King County CAPR chapter. I’m not a politician. Government works best being fully transparent and accountable, and we demand fiscal responsibility. I will continue to work relentlessly to change the status quo, strengthen taxpayer protections, and advocate for significant reforms that restore fairness and accountability in one of King County’s most important public offices.