ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Despite Glitches, Reelect Jacobs

In 18 years as Orange County assessor, Bradley Jacobs has tried to run his office like a business, generally with good results. He has relied extensively on computers, stuck to a chain of command in which he reported to the county administrative officer, and generally kept a low profile. Most of the time that style served him well, but he has had some problems in his current four-year term. Despite the glitches, he deserves reelection.

As assessor, a countywide post, Jacobs oversees a staff of more than 300 who appraise all the property in the county subject to taxation. For most residential property bought since Proposition 13, it is easy to figure the assessment--1% of the purchase price.

The problem with assessments came in the past few years. Before that, it virtually was a certainty that if you bought property in Orange County, it went up each year by more than the 2% on an assessment allowed by law. Double-digit increases in home values were not unheard of. But in the 1990s, some property values declined. And that meant the assessment, and the property tax, also should have declined.

When the taxes did not drop, homeowners screamed. But Orange County had such a backlog that the Board of Supervisors was forced to set up another panel to hear the appeals. Jacobs should have let the supervisors know earlier, and more forcefully, that the real estate slump would mean more appeals. He also should have been more active in letting homeowners know that they had a right to appeal. Now that the supervisors have given him the additional staff he needed, there should be no excuses for falling behind on keeping assessments current.

Jacobs is running for yet another term against two weak candidates, both of whom work in his office. Whatever misgivings there may be about Jacobs’ stewardship of the assessments, he has done a respectable job for the county and its taxpayers by fighting for the correct assessments of businesses’ land, buildings, computers and the like. Overall, he has done a solid enough job to merit another term.