Politics & Government

Assessor Candidate Wood Says He'd Look to Increase Office's Accuracy

Wildwood and Eureka voters have two candidates to choose between on the April 5 ballot.

Voters in St. Louis County municipalities will elect an assessor for the first time on the April 5 ballot.

The choice comes down to a third-term state representative, Jake Zimmerman, and a real estate executive with 37 years of experience, L.K. “Chip” Wood. Both candidates said they think that by making it an elected position, voters sent a message that they want the assessor to be accountable to them.

The charter amendment allowed the two parties with the most votes in the 2008 governor election–Democrats and Republicans–to nominate candidates for the office in the 2011 election only. As a result, no third-party or independent candidates will run this year.

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The following is a profile of Wood. A profile of Zimmerman is published in a separate article.

L.K. ‘Chip’ Wood

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Wood is an executive in his family’s firm, L.K. Wood Real Estate. He has appraised real estate for 37 years, but his sons now run the business’ day-to-day operations.  The assessor’s race is Wood’s first venture into politics.

“I got excited about the tea party message. It’s like on Network: ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore,’” said Wood, of South County.

When the assessor became an elected position, he said, it was his chance to make a difference.

As assessor, one of his goals would be accurate assessments. Wood said he found that while neighboring Franklin County’s appeal rate is less than 1 percent, 35 to 40 percent of St. Louis County assessments are appealed.

“I can definitely do better than that,” Wood said. “If I ran my business like that, I’d be out of business.”

The county’s assessment should be at least 90 to 95 percent accurate, he said.

“My goal is to give everyone a fair shake on their assessments.”

Another goal is to make the assessor’s office more efficient by eliminating wasteful spending.

Wood met with Franklin County Assessor Tom Copeland. He said that county has a $1 million budget to assess 70,000 properties. St. Louis County has a $13 million budget to assess 139,000 properties.

“For less than half the price per property, they satisfy 99 percent of their residents,” Wood said. “We charge twice as much, and we’re right only about 65 percent of the time.”

He has appealed assessments several times, he said.

“I want to treat people like they’re human beings. The appeal process can be demeaning,” he said, describing his experience.

“The last time, I went down to a huge gymnasium and waited around for a couple of hours until they called my name,” he said. “All they did was take my forms and say they’d get back with me. I could have mailed it in.”

People also don’t feel they’re listened to during the appeals, he said.

“If you spend $2,000, $3,000 or $4,000 in taxes, don’t you want to feel you’re getting a fair shake?” Wood asked.


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