Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone resigns

Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone is stepping down next month after 30 years on the job.

Stone, 84, announced Monday he’s leaving office July 6, well before his term ends in December 2026. He’s overseen the region’s property values for three decades, through an economic recession and pandemic. A news release from Stone’s office said the Board of Supervisors will need to call for an election to fill the seat. Assistant Assessor Greg Monteverde is set to fill the role effective July 7 until the election.

“There are certain things that have occurred that say now is the time,” Stone told San Jose Spotlight. “This was just the right time to step down.”

Voters first elected Stone as assessor in 1994 for one task — determining property taxes. Every year by July 1, he’s closed an assessment roll that’s grown from $115 billion to $700 billion over his tenure. Despite this public charge, he boasts adding only one person to his staffing levels and returning more than $35 million to the general fund since he took office. He’s also touted the implementation of new technologies to make the office’s work more efficient.

The latest milestone — one which Stone says he held off his resignation for — is the anticipated rollout of a new computer system to replace the one his office has used for 40 years. After working to find a vendor during a long request for proposal process, supervisors approved the new system contract June 17.  Stone said he couldn’t leave until the critical project moved forward.

County Executive James Williams thanked Stone for his years of service.

“Our community owes a great deal of gratitude to Assessor Larry Stone, who has run an incredibly efficient and effective Assessor’s Office for many decades,” Williams told San José Spotlight. “Larry has also been an extraordinary advocate for fair and appropriate property tax rules and legislation, playing a critical leadership role statewide. Larry’s lifetime of public service, professionalism and excellence leaves a legacy that I’m confident will continue in our assessor’s office.”

Otto Lee, president of the board of supervisors, lauded Stone’s transformation of the assessor’s office.

“During his tenure, Larry championed modernization efforts that significantly improved customer service and ensured accurate, fair assessments for millions of residential and commercial properties,” Lee told San José Spotlight.

Santa Clara County schools and social safety net programs rely on accurate property assessments for funding — and the situation is urgent. Earlier this year, county leaders had to patch a hundred-million-dollar budget deficit, partly blamed on slow property tax growth. Property owners can also fight their assessments. Stone at one point totaled all the county’s active and pending assessment appeals to about $120 billion in value at risk.

Stone has been protective of his role — and picky about the qualifications of any successors. He said he’s met with various people interested in following his footsteps, but didn’t specify who.

“I think what the board has to do is set an election and it would probably be a primary election in November. We’re looking at a pretty short runway,” Stone said. “I imagine there’s a number of people that might be interested.”

Saratoga Councilmember Yan Zhao is one person interested in the job, having launched a campaign challenging Stone at the end of last year. She’s nabbed several state and county lawmaker endorsements since launching her campaign, including county Supervisor Otto Lee and state Sen. Dave Cortese.
Stone is the county’s longest serving elected official. Prior to serving as assessor, Stone spent 16 years on the Sunnyvale City Council, serving as mayor from 1979-1980 and from 1987-1989. He co-founded a Bay Area real estate investment and development firm and worked on Wall Street as a financial manager.

Stone said he expects to stay involved in the community after stepping down.

“I’m very involved in housing issues, the arts – I have been for years,” Stone said. “I don’t think that’s gonna change.”

Story updated June 24 at 1:43 p.m. Original story published June 23 at 10:27 a.m.

Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X.