Assessor warns of large backlog and $35.5 billion ‘value at risk’ in appeals; clerk says progress made

The county’s Assessor told the Finance and Government Operations Committee on April 15 that an expanding backlog of assessment appeals poses an “unacceptable financial risk” to Santa Clara County, cities and schools. Assessor Larry Stone and his senior staff described multiple operational and information‑sharing problems with the Clerk of the Board’s appeals scheduling system and requested board direction to restore pre‑existing agenda functions and dashboards.

Why it matters: Assessment appeals affect the tax roll, potential refund liabilities and the county’s revenue stream that supports schools and local services. The Assessor quantified a rapidly rising workload and urged the committee to act to reduce scheduling delays and restore data transparency between offices.

What the Assessor reported

County Assessor Larry Stone told the committee processing and scheduling assessment appeals must be “accurate, efficient and, most importantly, timely.” Stone said his office cannot begin resolution work until appeals are activated and scheduled by the Clerk of the Board. He identified: 1,700 appeals waiting for hearing dates that were filed in 2023; a current total of 11,165 active appeals countywide; and a “value at risk” of $35,500,000,000 — the assessor’s estimate of the total difference in values under appeal — which he said equates to roughly $1.3 billion in potential property‑tax refunds.

Senior assessor staff outlined several audit recommendations the Assessor’s Office says remain only partially implemented. Chief Appraiser John Derechio told the committee that configurable dashboards in the Clerk’s ADAM system (recommendation 1.2.2 and 10.4 in the audit) have not been fully implemented for assessor staff, that data mapping to support additional tools was still outstanding, and that long‑standing “pending stipulation” agenda functions that existed prior to an ADAM implementation had been removed.

Clerk of the Board response

Acting Clerk of the Board Curtis Boone acknowledged delays during the 2023 filing period but said the Clerk met the 2024 target to process regular filing‑period appeals by Dec. 31, 2024. Boone said some of the remaining queue reflects appeals waiting for value hearing officer availability and for calendar dates in 2026, and he said ADAM dashboards were rolled to production earlier in April and were awaiting testing feedback and vendor adjustments. Boone also noted local rules require written mutual agreements to postpone hearings and described ongoing coordination with the Assessor’s Office on scheduling procedures.

Committee action and requests

At the start of the item the committee agreed to move item 4 from the consent calendar to the regular agenda so the Assessor could present. After presentations and public comment, committee members thanked both offices and approved a motion to receive the report. The record shows the motion carried with Chairperson Betty Young and Vice Chairperson Ellenberg voting yes.

Clarifying details requested and next steps

Assessor Stone asked the board to direct the Clerk of the Board to restore the agenda item for pending stipulations and to complete dashboards and data mapping that would allow the Assessor’s Office better visibility into scheduling. The Clerk’s office said it would continue vendor testing of dashboards, coordinate with the Assessor on a unified sub‑appeal scheduling proposal, and that scheduling capacity will expand once value hearing officer calendars and 2026 hearing dates are approved. The parties agreed to continue the dialogue; the committee’s action was to receive the report and continue oversight.

Ending

Committee members expressed urgency about reducing delays and restoring transparency between the Assessor and Clerk offices. The committee’s vote to receive the audit‑related report formalized committee oversight and signaled further follow‑up to address the operational gaps the Assessor described.