Accomplishments

By Ron Thomsen

While in the Assessor's office, Ron Thomsen has proudly served the citizens of Alameda County for the past 28 years. Because of his strong leadership skills, exceptional work ethic and overall experience in the assessment field, Ron was unanimously appointed Assessor by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors in 2001. In the 2002 election, Mr. Thomsen was successfully elected Assessor by the voters of Alameda County and proudly serves its citizens today.

Ron continues to fulfill his pledge to improve public service, efficiencies, and to promote integrity in the Assessor's office. A performance audit completed in 2002 by a private firm hired by the County to review the department's efficiencies concluded that the Assessor's office is performing extraordinarily well by all measures of output. Further the consultants concluded through customer service surveys that the public is extremely satisfied with the quality and level of service provided by the Assessor's office. The report also acknowledged the many positive attributes of the department including its high level of accuracy and timely assessments and the meeting of all technical performance requirements with a high degree of effectiveness. Recently, the Assessor's office also received the outstanding rating of 99.9 percent in the State Board of Equalization's Assessment Practices Survey of the department's assessments. The ideal assessment ratio would be 100 percent.

Every year since leading the department in 2001, Assessor Thomsen has timely and accurately completed the local assessment roll. Each year he has also been recognized by the County Administrator's office for being fiscally responsible in containing operational costs. Every year under Ron's administration the department has operated substantially under budget while completing the department's mandated functions. In addition, each year under Ron's leadership his department has exceeded the State's performance criteria requirement for obtaining State funding.

The latest local assessment roll, which determines revenue for our schools, Alameda County, each of its cities, special districts and redevelopment areas totaled more than $167 billion. Property taxes generated from these assessments total nearly $2 billion annually. Ron is very well aware of the great responsibility of his department and is accountable for its results. He is very appreciative for the hard work and dedication of his entire staff of 187 employees and realizes the department's success depends upon their achievements.