"Contra Costa County taxpayers may soon be on the hook for a settlement of a lawsuit accusing Assessor Gus Kramer of improperly slashing a property's value by millions of dollars then retaliating against the employee who raised alarms about it. The potential payout under consideration by the county's Board of Supervisors would cap another legal battle for the elected assessor, whose three-decade-long career has included campaign finance violation fines, a court judgement in another workplace retaliation lawsuit."
"The lawsuit filed against Contra Costa County has resurfaced concerns about manipulated property values during Kramer's tenure, dating back to 2009, when he avoided paying $21,000 after his own property was underassessed, according to court records and media reports. That same year, Kramer's office overvalued the vacant dirt lots of a developer with whom he had been publicly feuding, costing the company more than $200,000, according to previous reporting by this news organization."
Contra Costa County faces a potential settlement payment over a lawsuit alleging Assessor Gus Kramer slashed a property's value by millions and retaliated against the employee who raised concerns. The payout under review by the Board of Supervisors would resolve another legal dispute for the elected assessor, whose career includes campaign finance fines, a court judgment in a separate workplace-retaliation case and a mistrial on allegations of willful or corrupt misconduct. Allegations trace manipulated valuations to 2009, including an underassessment that saved Kramer $21,000 and an overvaluation of a developer's vacant lots that cost over $200,000. Former supervising appraiser Andrea Albrecht left months after reporting the incident and said the experience profoundly affected her career and life. Kramer denied retaliating and said he once performed an appraisal "on the back of a napkin," claiming Albrecht was too aggressive with her appraisals.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]