BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone announced today (June 23) that he is stepping down after 30 years, setting up a special election to lead an office that assesses $8 billion in property taxes each year.
Stone, 84, of San Jose, will be replaced on July 7 by Assistant Assessor Greg Monteverde. The Board of Supervisors is required, by their charter, to call for a special election to fill the role until the regular election in November 2026.
Already, two candidates have thrown their hats into the ring to replace Stone. Saratoga Councilwoman Yan Zhao launched a campaign in December, and Los Altos Vice Mayor Neysa Fligor filed papers in February to run in 2030, when she expected Stone to retire.
Fligor thanked Stone and said she will have more information to share in the next few days.
Stone said he’s met with about a half-dozen people who are interested in the job.
“As you get closer to the end of your term, particularly where you’ve been as long as I have, people begin to circle around,” Stone said in a February interview.
The job of assessor is attractive with a salary of nearly $300,000 and no term limits, Stone said.
“Most of the people I’ve talked to in a serious way about the job don’t measure up. They look at it as a political job,” he said. “Those are the wrong people for the wrong reasons.”
The Board of Supervisors on June 17 signed a six-year, $30 million contract for the company Brainsharp to provide a new property tax assessment system, replacing the old system that’s been in place for four decades.
“I knew I just couldn’t leave until this critical project was moving forward. Now, with the new system ready to implement and the successful completion of my 30th assessment roll close, the timing feels right to step down,” Stone said in a statement yesterday. “It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve the people of Santa Clara County,”
Stone was first elected as assessor in 1994 and has been re-elected eight times since then, making him the longest tenured elected official in Santa Clara County. His office has 251 employees and a $55 million budget. Stone was previously a partner at a real estate development company and a Sunnyvale councilman.
He getting out before all the real estate fraud is exposed. Funny a Los Altos candidate. Los Altos has more real estate fraud than anywhere in the planet.
The question not asked here is why is he resigning in midterm, forcing the cost of a special election.
Hope other candidates jump into this race. Not much to pick from now. Never forgot how Neysa started crying at a council meeting when she couldn’t get the committee assignments she wanted, despite written rules. Don’t want a person handling money who will grant exceptions to the rules if somebody breaks out in tears.