Bill Reams To Run For County Assessor

Bill Reams, former longtime King County councilman, has decided to seek the $85,000-a-year county assessor's job.

"The computer's property-assessment program just ran wild. In a lot of neighborhoods it spit out results which were just plain unfair. Increases of 100 percent could have been avoided," he said, adding that evaluations will be even more shocking next year.

"The job of the assessor is to equalize, not increase the tax load. I will not allow the office of assessor to be a tool to expand government," he said.

The door opened for Reams to return to county government when two-term Assessor Ruthe Ridder opted to pass up a third term following criticism from taxpayers over high evaluations and the prospect of sharp property-tax increases for 1991.

But first, Reams must defeat fellow Republicans in the primary, including state Rep. Bruce Holland of Renton. So far, the only Democrats who have announced their candidacies are Deputy Assessor Bob Rosenberger and Issaquah Realtor Dick Pangallo.

The final candidate lineup will develop when filings for the September primary end next Friday.

Reams, 58, served on the County Council for 20 years, before losing his council seat to Brian Derdowski two years ago. Since then, he has been running a successful government consulting business.

"As the biggest county in the state, I think we can do something with the Legislature to put together a program for tax relief . . . maybe a freeze until we come up with something equitable," Reams said.

The assessor's office should adopt a neutral philosophy and not take the position of finding ways to raise taxes and to generate revenue, he feels.

Reams, council chairman three times and head of the council Finance Committee several times, said he has dealt with such revenue problems before.

Reams' opponents so far say they too are well-qualified.

Holland, now serving his fifth legislative term, said he welcomes a contested Republican primary and touts his 20 years of financial management and administration in the private sector. As a 47th District legislator he has been in a leadership role in financial activities.

"My fingerprints are all over property-tax proposals . . . as co-sponsor of a senior citizens tax-relief package," Holland said.

He looks to improving the county computer-evaluation models as well as employee training to generate more equitable property evaluations.

Seven years in the department and more recently working as deputy assessor, Rosenberger says he knows what has been done right and what can be done to make things better.

"I would like to see a move to annual revaluations and to more closely track the ups and downs of the market," said Rosenberger, who has taken an unpaid leave to avoid possible a conflict of interest during the campaign.

Pangallo, despite being a political newcomer, feels his background and experience as a Realtor and small-business owner makes his viable candidate. And he isn't afraid of facing off with political veterans such as Reams and Holland.

"I`m looking forward to the challenge. Reams has been defeated recently and Holland has been pretty ineffective in Olympia. It will be interesting to see how they use their campaign funds," said the 34-year-old Issaquah-area resident.