THE LAMORINDAN 10-9-09

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"I am easily satisfied with the very best." Ron Brown says that Winston ron 10-9

Churchill expressed this thought, although others have claimed Oscar Wilde said it first. Go figure; better yet go Google. For the benefit of those who are not wild(e) about literature. Winnie wins out!

VISITING ROTARIANS

John Moulthroup - Concord-Clayton Valley Sunrise.

GUESTS OF OTHER PERSUASIONS

Rod Howe (I think) - friend of Brad Davis', who I am sure will correct me if I am wrong.

BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES, AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS GOODIES

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Rick Ashburn celebrated his birthday going to see his kids in about 17 different sporting events and handing over $20 to the Club's coffers. Happy Birthday, Rick.

STUPID PRESIDENT TRICKS - IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME

Every Club President gets around to it eventually. You know what I mean, those little excuses to levy fines (er, "recognitions"). Things like quizzing us about footnotes in the latest issue of the Rotarian or asking who can identify the first Rotarian to succeed in mumbling the entire Four-Way Test.

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Today, King John got off on the Stupid President Tricks bandwagon by asking Rick Ashburn and Mike Edwards what they were doing one and four years ago, respectively. In both cases, the answer was: Being initiated into Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary. Money changed hands. Hilarity ensued.

A MOMENT WITH EXCHANGE STUDENT AYMERIC

Lake Tahoe for the District Conference. Playing in the early season snow. Joining the Drum Line at school. Just another week in Paradise for our Belgian Youth Exchange Student.

AND SPEAKING OF THE DISTRICT CONFERENCE . . .

It took place last weekend. Expect to hear more about it in future weeks from King John and the other attendees. For now, know that if you did not go, you missed out.

ADVANCING UP THE RANKS, SO TO SPEAK

Brad Davis stood up to do a little song and dance, and at the end of it, brad & mark 10-9

Mark Roberts had his blue badge. Mark my words, some weeks are like that.

ANOTHER REASON WHY ALL THE OTHER CLUBS IN THE AREA ARE INSANELY JEALOUS OF US

The Lafayette Club threw a golf tournament, and (ta-da) LSR fielded the winning foursome of Brad Davis, Rick Ashburn, Hays Englehart and Thomas Raeth. Moreover, thomas peeks 10-9

LSR also fielded the runnerup foursome of Ron Brown, Dominic Porrino, Thomas Peeks and strong man John Linneman, who carried the whole team. Thus spake Thomas Peeks.

As an editorial aside, the staff of the Lamorindan would like to add the following: NEENER NEENER NEENER, ALL YOU OTHER CLUBS!

DECISIONS TO BE MADE

Krysten Laine, in her capacity as Director of Development (which krysten & John 10-9

usually translates as Person in Charge of Begging for Money) says that we have a couple of ideas floating around for fund-raising: revamping the Dinner and Auction, or launching our own Concourse d"Elegance style car show. Details to follow.

RECIPES NEEDED

Somehow or other, the Lafayette Club needs our help with recipes for a cook book they are threatening to publish. So please, forward a recipe to Krysten Laine ASAP. If you can't or don't want to, let her know that ASAP, too, so she can cover for you.

UPCOMING GOOD DEEDS YOU CAN HELP WITH

There are some do-good events coming down the pike you can take dan garfin 10-9

part in. On October 17, there is the Habitat for Humanity seminar at the Vet's Hall at 10:00 a.m. Contact Dan Garfin for more info.

On November 7, there will be a project involving the Bay Area Ridge Trail. John Fazel is the Man What Am for this one. Perfect project for us; we're always on the trailing edge.

On October 29, time TBA, Brad Davis will lead the annual Garden Park Apartments Pumpkin Carving Contest. For this one in particular, kids are not only welcome, they are actively sought. Call Brad to learn more.

MORE FROM "THE ABC's OF ROTARY"

We had another excerpt from Cliff Dochterman's seminal work, "The david isenberg 10-9

ABC's of Rotary," today, courtesy of David Isenberg. Did you know that the Four-Way Test was not devised by or for Rotary? It's true. It was devised by Herbert Taylor in 1932 as the governing principles for the Club Aluminum Company, a pots-and-pans company that was on the verge of going the way so many businesses did in the Great Depression. He decided that the only way to make it was to take the high road - no hyperbolic claims for his products, no backstabbing of competitors' products, nothing but straightforward truth-telling. And shazam, it worked. The Club Aluminum Company turned its fortunes around and thrived for a number of years.

Although Herbert did not develop the Four-Way Test for Rotary, he was a Rotarian. In due course, his Test became known in the Rotary World and has been adopted as the moral compass by which we all guide ourselves.

Thanks, Dave, for reminding us of the story of the Four-Way Test. The fact that it grew out of a real-life situation in the biggest economic crisis our nation has ever known makes the story all the more compelling and relevant.

PROGRAM

His big brother has served as the Warden of Folsom State Prison. His kramer 10-9

little brother is a tax dodger. He has worked in Contra Costa County's Public Works department, in the Coroner's Office, and is currently the C. C. County Assessor. He has thus followed his father's advice to achieve job security by working in fields involving death and taxes Who else could this be but Gus Kramer?

Mr. Kramer gave us a good overview of what exactly his role is in the property tax process. He does not see his office as a profit center for the County, much to the chagrin of many other County officials. Instead, he sees his job as fairly and correctly assessing the values of real property in the County and helping property owners navigate the sometimes Byzantine rules and procedures that have come in the wake of Prop. 13.

Mr. Kramer first gave a little history. Foreclosures have always been with us - in the 1980's and 1990's, there was substantial foreclosure action. However, in those days, foreclosures were seen as aberrations in the market, not an integral part of it. Today, however, with foreclosures making up such a high percentage of the available housing stock (50% to 80% in East Contra Costa), they effectively are the market in much of the County, or at least a big enough piece of it that they have to be factored in. This means that the assessed values of houses have dropped dramatically, not just in real purchase power terms, but also in assessment-for-property-tax-purposes terms.

Mr. Kramer stressed what he sees as the most important part of his and his office's job - customer service. He has gone so far as to meet a property owner in a Safeway parking lot to pick up paperwork that otherwise would have been late. He personally works the front desk so he can better understand the transactions that come through the door, both from the property owner's perspective and that of the staff. His phone number is listed on the telephone book. He firmly believes that government should treat customer service as being every bit as important as successful businesses do.

Three types of matters appear to dominate the questions that the public bring to the Assessors Office's attention. The first deals with how they can get a reduction in their assessed valuation if they believe that their property values have decreased (and they most likely have). That is Prop. 8 (a different Prop. 8 - they did not sneak this in with the gay marriage referendum), and there is a brochure to help get you started.

The second common area if interest concerns gifting property to one's children or grandchildren without causing the property to be reassessed and losing the Prop. 13 benefit. That would Prop. 58 (for children) and Prop. 198 (for grandchildren), and there is a brochure available to get you up to speed (your mileage may vary).

The third common concern is what happens to "empty nesters" who have raised their family in the big house but now want to move to a smaller place. Can they transfer their Prop. 13 advantageous assessment? Yes, once per lifetime. That's Prop. 60, and there is a brochure available to help get you started.

All of these brochures, and a bunch more, are available on-line at www.co.contra-costa.ca.us/depart/assr.htm. Or google "contra costa assessor."

The craziest matter Mr. Kramer has had? That would be the dad who was having litigation problems - as in, he was afraid he was about to lose a lawsuit and thus his house. He transferred the house to his son using Prop. 58, meaning it would transfer carrying the lower Prop. 13 assessment value.Then when the litigation didn't go so badly, he tried to sign a deed transferring the house back to himself. He thought he could pull this off because he is a "Sr." and the son is a "Jr."

Not surprisingly, the Recorder's Office deemed this somewhat fishy. It turned out that Dear Old Dad had never told Junior about this transaction. In fact, Junior did not like Dad very much (and with shenanigans like this going on, you have to think he had some reason). So when Junior learned, out of the blue, that he now owned his Dad's house, he thought this was a fine turn of events - and kept it. Junior decided that Dad can stay there for the rest of his natural life, but Junior will otherwise keep the house. Thanks, Dad.

And yes, Junior has siblings - and wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall at that family Thanksgiving dinner.

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So, a few tidbits of wisdom from Mr. Kramer:

(1) About 70% of applicants who apply for Prop. 8 property value reductions get them.

(2) Applying for a reduction will not trigger a possible increase in valuation (unless you have done something suspect in the meantime); by law, it can't.

(3) Doing $100,000 worth of remodeling does not automatically mean $100,000 increase in your home value, so it does not automatically mean $100,000 increase in your valuation for property tax purposes, either. The increase in assessed valuation can only be the amount by which you increased the value of your home.

(4) Yes, you can appeal decisions made by the Assessor's personnel. Mr. Kramer recognizes that his staff consists of humans, and that humans can make mistakes. Under his watch, you will be treated fairly and courteously. Again, he sees his main mission as getting the correct answer and providing good customer service, not as being a profit center for the county.

And yes, someone did bring up the elephant in the parlor (that person's initials are Brad Davis), that being the article in the C.C. Times that treated Mr. Kramer most unkindly accusing him of everything from malfeasance to kidnapping the Lindbergh baby. So what's the story? The story is that there is no story. Read the article, says Mr. Kramer, and you will see plenty of innuendo and no facts. In addition to any verifiable facts, you also did not see the back-story, which is that both Media News that now owns the Times and its largest advertiser -- Chevron -- have large ongoing assessment disputes in the Assessor's Office.

Thank you, Gus Kramer, for taking the time to give us some insight into the Assessor's office.

CALENDAR

Friday, October 16 - Weekly meeting at Postino 7:00 a.m. Sheriff Warren Rupf. No illegal activities today please.

Friday, October 23 - Weekly meeting at Postino 7:00 a.m. Fraud in Medicare?? - No Way. Steve Lack, U.S. Dept Health & Human Services with startling cases exposed.

Friday, November 6 - Weekly meeting at Postino 7:00 a.m. Global Heating program.

Friday, November 13 - Weekly meeting at Postino 7:00 a.m. Mr. EBMUD, John Coleman

Friday, November 20 - Weekly meeting at Postino 7:00 a.m. John Chiang, State Controller

Thanksgiving weekend, November 28, DARK! Happy Holiday