Two candidates seeking to become Santa Clara County’s next Assessor emphasized their contrasting backgrounds and visions for modernizing the office during a Meet the Candidate forum Sept. 8 at the Morgan Hill Grange.
Yan Zhao, a Saratoga city council member and two-term mayor, and Neysa Fligor, Los Altos vice mayor and the county’s current Assistant Assessor, addressed local residents at the event hosted by the South County Silver Democratic Club.
The special election comes after the retirement in July of longtime former county Assessor Larry Stone, who had held the position since 1994.
The other two candidates for the position, Saratoga tech executive Rishi Kumar and East Side Union High School District Board President Bryan Do, were not in attendance at the Sept. 8 forum.
The assessor’s office determines property values across the county’s more than 450,000 parcels, which in turn informs the property tax for each property. This generates revenue that funds a wide swath of public services, including schools, hospitals and police and fire departments.
Both candidates identified updating the office’s aging COBOL-based computer system as a top priority, though they offered different perspectives on their qualifications for the task.
Zhao, an electrical engineer and computer scientist who worked in Silicon Valley for nearly 30 years, criticized the current system that uses COBOL programming language from 1959. She said only one employee in the assessor’s office understands the outdated language, creating the potential for a serious bottleneck in productivity.
“As an engineer who has worked in industry for all these years, I think it’s important to use technology to improve service,” Zhao said. “When we have a sense of urgency, you treat your customer with a sense of urgency and respect.”
Fligor said that, as Assistant Assessor, she has already begun implementing a modern technology solution, working with her team to move the office away from the COBOL system after 19 years of failed attempts.
“When I joined last year, they said, ‘Neysa, we really would like to get it off the ground,’” Fligor said. “I was able to work with this team to acquire a new modern technology solution. We’ve already invested time, resources and money. It’s good for the county, it’s good for taxpayers. It will increase efficiency and effectiveness.”
Zhao emphasised her preparedness for the role, having begun planning to run for the office as early as 2023, at the time expecting to challenge Stone for his seat before he made the decision to step down earlier this year.
“To prepare myself after I decided to run for this office in 2023, I took all the classes that are needed if you work in this office,” she said. “You need to take classes, pass exams and get certificates from the Board of Equalization … I’ve worked in the appraisal field for more than 1,000 hours, and I got a professional residential appraiser’s license from the Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers. So I bring the knowledge and technical expertise to this office. When elected, I’m ready to lead.”
Fligor emphasized her current position as Assistant Assessor and her previous role as attorney for the assessor’s office, saying she is “essentially already doing the job of managing the office and overseeing appraisals and assessments.”
She noted she is the only candidate with certification as a property tax appraiser, a legal requirement that differs from real estate or commercial assessment licenses.
“It is very specific to the work we do in the assessor’s office, and there’s a reason why the law requires that you have this expertise. You’re only able to get this expertise based on experience, because it really matters,” Fligor said. “When you’re voting for an assessor, the law requires that California assessors have this certification, and I’m the only candidate who has got this certificate.”
Both candidates stressed the importance of community outreach, noting the absence of the other two candidates for the position at the South County forum.
Zhao has received the endorsements of 10 of the 15 mayors in Santa Clara County, including Morgan Hill mayor Mark Turner. She has served seven years on Saratoga’s city council, including two terms as mayor during the pandemic.
Fligor is endorsed by Stone and previously held regional leadership positions including president of the Cities Association of Santa Clara County.
Kumar, who was not in attendance at the Morgan Hill forum, is a former Saratoga city councilmember and author of “Winning the AI Arms Race.” Like the other candidates, he makes modernizing the office’s aging systems a high priority, claiming to be “the only candidate ready to modernize the Assessor’s Office from day one,” according to his campaign website.
Do was first elected to the EUSHD board of trustees in 2020.
The assessor position is nonpartisan and elected countywide. Whichever candidate is elected on Nov. 4 will serve for the remaining year of Stone’s term before a new election in 2026 for the next full four-year term.
Calvin Nuttall is a Morgan Hill-based freelance reporter.
