{"id":739,"date":"2006-10-18T13:23:00","date_gmt":"2006-10-18T19:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/10\/assessor-candidates-discuss-taxes-tell-jokes\/"},"modified":"2006-10-18T13:23:00","modified_gmt":"2006-10-18T19:23:00","slug":"assessor-candidates-discuss-taxes-tell-jokes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/10\/assessor-candidates-discuss-taxes-tell-jokes\/","title":{"rendered":"Assessor candidates discuss taxes, tell jokes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The candidates for Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> assessor revealed stark differences during Tuesday\u2019s League of Women Voters forum. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Democrat Gary P\u00e9rez, the incumbent, touted years of experience at every level in the assessor\u2019s office, and said his only goal is to do a good job.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI am a candidate who has experience,\u201d P\u00e9rez said. \u201cI\u2019m not a politician. I\u2019m a person who cares about that office.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Republican challenger H.F. \u201cJunior\u201d Adams<\/st1:place> said he is \u201cnot a \u2018yes\u2019 man\u201d and is the candidate voters should pick if they want ethical government.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cI want to bring integrity, honesty and fairness,\u201d Adams<\/st1:place> said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

P\u00e9rez said he is currently implementing a new computer system in the office that will replace two separate, older systems, which will mean better appraisals and more accurate records.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Adams<\/st1:place> said P\u00e9rez\u2019s office is not doing a good job of informing people about exemptions that exist. He said he would do a better job of that, and also wants to push for additional exemptions for veterans.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Adams<\/st1:place> also said he believes property should be taxed based on the price paid by the owner, not market value.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not their fault if the price goes up,\u201d Adams<\/st1:place> said. \u201c\u2026 I don\u2019t like taxes, and I wouldn\u2019t raise them if I didn\u2019t have to.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

P\u00e9rez said state law dictates that property values be assessed based on market value, not the price someone paid for it.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The candidates were also asked how they feel about taxing fraternal orders. Adams<\/st1:place> got into the race in part because one of the groups he belongs to was taxed at a higher rate than he believes is appropriate.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

P\u00e9rez said the state\u2019s tax code doesn\u2019t exempt fraternal orders from paying property taxes. To be exempt, groups have to meet certain requirements that prove they are charitable or educational.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Adams<\/st1:place> said the groups he belongs to are charitable, but did not address whether they met or worked to meet the tax code requirements.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI talked to Gary<\/st1:city> about this, and I didn\u2019t get anywhere with him,\u201d Adams<\/st1:place> said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Both candidates were asked if they plan to use the position as a stepping stone to higher office.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be the governor,\u201d Adams<\/st1:place> said, which elicited laughter from all, including himself.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not looking for anything after this,\u201d he said a moment later.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

P\u00e9rez said he\u2019s not using the office as a stepping stone and said, if re-elected, he doesn\u2019t know what he\u2019ll do when his next term runs out in four years.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

P\u00e9rez said property owners pay more when they elect a good assessor.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cAsking you to vote for me is like asking a chicken to vote for Colonel Sanders, but somebody has to do it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The candidates for Do\u00f1a Ana County assessor revealed stark differences during Tuesday\u2019s League of Women Voters forum. Democrat Gary P\u00e9rez, the incumbent, touted years of experience at every level in the assessor\u2019s office, and said his only goal is to do a good job. \u201cI am a candidate who has experience,\u201d P\u00e9rez said. \u201cI\u2019m not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}