3 Pima County Assessor candidates face off in Democratic primary

The office, responsible for determining amounts on property taxes and which properties receive tax exemptions, is currently occupied by Democrat Bill Staples.

Here’s what you need to know about the candidates who are going head to head in the Aug. 4 primary election for a chance to land on the November ballot.

The winner of the Democratic primary will face write-in candidate Republican Jo Ann Sabbagh in November.

Suzanne Droubie

Droubie currently works in the private sector assisting with property tax services, but previously spent seven years doing mass appraisals in the assessor’s office and a year doing property support for the Pima County attorney.

Early on in Droubie’s career she did retail customer service management. She got her fee appraiser license in 2003 and her real estate license a year later.

“I know what taxpayers don’t have and what they need and what they want because I’ve been listening to them talk about it for the last five years,” she says.

If elected, Droubie plans to enhance customer service through outreach and communication. Through her work in the private sector, she found that many people don’t know what exemptions are available to them, which in some cases could save someone from losing their home, she says.

“There’s exceptions for vets; there’s exceptions for widows and widowers, and small nonprofits,” she says.

“This information needs to be blasted out into the community.”

She wants to make the assessor’s office more accessible through pop-up offices temporarily set up in hard to reach parts of town, ready to answer taxpayer’s questions and help with forms.

She also wants to make the website more user-friendly, with more information for home-owners and developers, as well as adding bilingual services.

Droubie ran for the office in 2016 as an independent. She made that choice because she believes the office should be independent to serve everyone, regardless of political party, but in hindsight says she should have run as a Democrat.

“There was literally a six-month window there where I was registered as an independent,” Droubie says. “Other than that, I’ve been registered as a Democrat my entire life, and a very vocal Democrat.”

Droubie is a precinct committeeman for Legislative District 11 and chairperson of the Pima County Animal Control Advisory Committee.

If elected, she would be Pima County’s first female assessor.

“I’m the one who wants to take the assessor’s office and make it a resource,” she said. “I am not interested in the status quo. I know that what we’re doing in the assessor’s office is important. Properties need to be located, listed and valued. But I also know that this office can be so much more than that. And I think that we owe it to the taxpayers, to be so much more than that.”

Brian Johnson

Johnson has worked in the county assessor’s office for nine years as an appraiser and senior appraiser and in Pima County Administration’s Finance and Risk Management Department in the Property Assessment Litigation Unit.

He has 14 years of experience in county governments, but first began his career in hospitality before going into real estate.

Johnson ran for assessor in 2016 and lost the Democratic primary to then-incumbent Staples, gaining 37% of the vote.

He is a certified appraiser by the Department of Revenue and a member of the International Association of Assessing Officers.

Johnson understands the process of working with the treasurer, recorder and county government because of experience that the other candidates don’t have, he says.

“Just bringing that level of education to the job is going to be able to produce what they’re talking about — customer service, getting out to the people,” he said.

“They don’t even have that education that I have to be able to get that out there, to get the staff going and to get the whole office up and running and really confident.”

If elected, Johnson would upgrade the office’s data system so property tax bills are in an integrated system between the assessor, treasurer and county administration. The assessor’s and treasurer’s systems are separate and antiquated, which has caused problems, he says.

He’d like to see property maps on the county’s website be more informative and accessible to the public, which ties into his focus on public outreach and helping taxpayers understand their tax value.

He would also fill 30 open positions in the office and implement professional development for the staff, he says.

“The other candidates talk about public service and good customer service,” he said.

“Well the reason they’re not getting good customer service right now is because of the fact that it’s so understaffed and also under-trained.”

Johnson is a member of Democrats of Greater Tucson, the Nucleus Club and Democrats for Picture Rocks and is active with the Service Employees International Union, according to his website.

Dustin Walters

Walters, 39, says he’s running to ensure fair and equitable valuations.

“Under my leadership, this office will always focus on people, service and innovation,” he says.

Walters is a senior appraiser in the assessor’s office, where he’s worked since 2014.

If elected, he would create an advisory committee with real estate professionals to stay abreast of issues that affect property values. He would implement training so staff can best serve taxpayers, he said, as well as a consistent audit process to improve property valuations.

He wants the office to be more proactive and to engage the community by making resources more accessible, hosting information sessions in local libraries, distributing bilingual brochures and creating a social media presence.

Walters says he would also create online tools to allow people to go through the process of developing a property value the same way the office does.

Walters decided to run because his colleagues told him he’d be great for the job, and he has their support, he says.

“We really have so many ideas and improvements that are sitting on my desk right now that I can implement on day one, literally on day one, that will ultimately benefit the taxpayers and property owners of Pima County,” he says.

Before working in the assessor’s office, Walters worked in sales, operations and customer service in the private sector. More than 12 years combined working for Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors, Walters managed dozens of employees and a multi-million dollar budget.

“At the end of the day, I truly am the only candidate with true, hardcore Fortune 500 company management experience that I really can’t wait to pull from to lead this organization,” he said.

He has also done community service work with the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, Boys and Girls Club, Salvation Army and United Way, according to his website.

Conflict of interest?

Droubie has raised far more money than either of her opponents. One of the largest donations — $6,000 — came from Karl Watson, owner of Tucson car dealership Watson Chevrolet, Inc., which is in active litigation with the current assessor, Staples, over a valuation dispute.

The case is one of more than 40 lawsuits that Staples filed in 2017 against property owners who challenged their valuations to the state board of equalization and had their property values lowered. County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry told the Star in 2017 that the lawsuits were ethically questionable.

Droubie’s opponent Johnson says it’s questionable to take donations from property owners since they can appeal their property value directly to the assessor, and potentially get their property taxes lowered.

“It’s not a conflict of interest because when I step into the assessor’s office, every one of those cases will be handled by the county attorney’s office, which is how they should have been handled to begin with,” Droubie says.

As of March 31, the last campaign report Droubie filed, she had raised $27,445. She also accepted $2,500 from well-known Republican donor Jim Click.

Johnson is self-funding his campaign and had not accepted any donations as of his July 18 campaign finance filing.

Walters has raised $4,300 as of June 30, with the largest single donation being $500 from a retiree.

Staples did not accept campaign contributions in any of his three successful runs for assessor.