Polk County Assessor
The County Assessor is responsible for assessing the value of all properties in the county. The Assessor s office maintains records on property tax accounts, including maps and information on property locations, descriptions, and ownership. To qualify, a candidate must be a U.S. citizen, a registered voter, a resident of the county for at least a year prior to the General Election, and at least 18 years of age. The candidate must also be a registered appraiser or appraiser trainee, with 2 years of appraisal experience or 2 years of employment in an appraiser s office, and certified as eligible by the Oregon Department of Revenue.Term: 4 years. The position is nonpartisan.
Click a candidate icon to find more information about the candidate. To compare two candidates, click the "compare" button. To start over, click a candidate icon.
-
Valerie Patoine
(N)
What expertise do you have to meet the responsibilities of a County Assessor?
What do you see as this office’s major goals for the coming term, and what resources are needed to meet them?
How will you promote public accountability and transparency in the Assessor’s office?
Town Where You Live
Salem
Your Experience/Qualifications
I've worked in the Polk County Assessor's Office for 21 years, and have been the Assessor for the past 5 years.
County
Polk
Term
4 years
Term Expires
2028
As defined in ORS 204.016(4)(a)(b), to be elected Assessor you must be a registered appraiser or become a registered appraiser within two years after taking office and have two years of office management experience. I have been a registered appraiser for over 21 years, and Assessor for the past 5 years. In addition to adding a whole new list of responsibilities as Assessor, I was also rebuilding my appraisal team and personally completing many of the appraisal functions until my staff was trained. I have the technical knowledge combined with the years of experience that gives me the expertise to be your Assessor.
My personal goal since becoming Assessor was to not only cross train as many positions as possible to ensure the quality and continuity of work, but to also take our records into the digital world. The past five years have been spent hiring my team and cross training positions as well as researching and implementing new software and processes to streamline our work process and create efficiencies. My next step is to start the process of scanning our paper records and creating new workflows and processes to utilize and maximize the digital platform. After researching outsourcing options and discovering the high cost associated with them, I decided to keep the project inhouse and will be hiring a temporary employee at a fraction of the cost.
Polk County provides maps, search tools, ownership and property information, taxes, GIS data dumps and multiple reports in an effort to operate with complete transparency, for free. There are certain elements of our work that are considered "confidential" and cannot be displayed, but most everything else can be found on our website. Every single staff member in my office prides themselves on providing a high-level quality of customer service. We take the extra time needed to help all of our customers to ensure their understanding of the processes and help them navigate the complexity of the Oregon property tax system. I have an open door policy and encourage anyone with questions to come and meet with me.
To make a selection for a candidate you must first find your races. Would you like to find your races now?
You have already selected the maximum number of candidates for this race.
You must uncheck an existing selection before making another selection.