Primary with 3 GOP candidates will choose new Douglas County Assessor/Register of Deeds (2023)

A three-person Republican primary May 10 will most likely decide who will be in charge of setting Douglas County property valuations for tax purposes for homeowners and businesses over the next four years.

Only Republicans are running for Douglas County Assessor/Register of Deeds. So the winner will be alone on the ballot in November, barring unforeseen circumstances. But it is a varied field of people who are seeking to replace Diane Battiato, who did not seek reelection.

The person voters choose will hold a key elected office. County assessors set property valuations, one part of the equation that determines what Nebraskans pay in property taxes. The other part is tax rates, which are set by school boards, city councils, the county board and other elected bodies. State law requires county assessors to set property valuations at or near market value, and to equalize valuations between neighborhoods and county-wide.

The county assessor must work with the public and the County Board and other elected officials, as well as Nebraska Department of Revenue officials.

Grimm, 56, a former licensed Realtor originally from Creston, Iowa, holds a bachelor's degree in information management systems from Bellevue University. Grimm said he found his passion in life when he joined the Douglas County Assessor's Office in 2006. He started at the bottom. As a real estate lister, he measured and collected data on thousands of properties across the county.

He soon was promoted to real estate appraiser tech, and then to property appraisal information analyst.

"That's where I really developed kind of the expertise in mass appraisal because I was working more with the database," Grimm said.

Battiato, who has endorsed Grimm and is working as his campaign treasurer, appointed him chief field deputy in 2017, during a tumultuous time when many taxpayers were upset about big increases in home valuations across wide swaths of the county.

Grimm echoed Battiato's defense that the increases were necessary to catch up with a fast-rising real estate market, including revaluing many properties that had not been reassessed for many years. He said the office has made improvements in cleaning up data on properties and making sure properties are accurately grouped in similar market areas.

Grimm said he has been personally involved in doing appraisals and in operating and calibrating the offices' computer assisted mass appraisal system. Grimm said he would continue working hands-on if elected.

"I'm the only candidate that has ever revalued properties using mass appraisal," Grimm said. "I'm actually the only candidate that has any experience in mass appraisal."

Peffer, 75, has made a career in government and real estate work in Omaha. His work as an aide, executive assistant and liaison to Omaha mayors began with Gene Leahy in 1971. He went on to work for Ed Zorinsky, interim Mayor Robert Cunningham, Walt Calinger in the 1980s, PJ Morgan from 1989 to 1994 and interim Mayor Subby Anzaldo when Morgan resigned.

Peffer lobbied the Nebraska Legislature to help Morgan get funding for a Civic Auditorium renovation in the 1990s, and to help the City of Ralston finance the Ralston Arena in the 2010s. The Ralston Chamber of Commerce named Peffer its businessperson of the year in 2012 for his arena consulting and development work.

Peffer has a raft of endorsements, including from all the Republican members of the Douglas County Board and Omaha City Council, U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, former Gov. Dave Heineman and Ralston Mayor Don Groesser. The Nebraska Realtors PAC has given his campaign $5,000.

Peffer ran unsuccessfully for Douglas County Clerk in 1996, Omaha City Council in 2009 and Douglas County Assessor/Register of Deeds in 2018.

Peffer helped Morgan create the City of Omaha's Department of Administrative Services in 1992. Peffer was director of the department until he was fired in 1995 by then-newly elected Mayor Hal Daub, who gave $500 to Peffer's campaign this spring.

Peffer works for PJ Morgan Real Estate. Morgan, a member of the Douglas County Board, no longer owns the firm.

Peffer said he has managed hundreds of people and worked in many aspects of real estate development and management, including determining values of properties for business purposes.

"My vast real estate experience and vast government experience is an element that no one else running for this office has," Peffer said. "And also I think that I bring an attitude of respect for the taxpayer has been missing."

Peffer said that if elected, he would find ways to fix what he described as anomalies, houses or commercial properties that are valued far below or above what they sell for. He said he would hold evening meetings in each County Board district so people don't have to take time and pay for parking during the day to bring their valuation concerns to county appraisers.

"I've had a number of people call me about going downtown and not getting answers to their questions after they went down there, or called and didn't feel they were treated fairly or respectfully," Peffer said.

Carne, 46, worked for 10 years for PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the four largest accounting firms in the nation, rising to senior manager. A graduate of Omaha North High School, Carne holds degrees from Georgetown University and the University of Michigan.

She said she managed large teams of people by the time she was 23, and led teams working on large, complex auditing efforts for such clients as Goldman Sachs and Franklin Resources. She has spent the past few years focused on raising children, and is running for county assessor because she believes the county must do a better job of making sure valuations are fair, accurate and up to date.

"I grew up here and I've lived here for almost 30 years of my life, but I have really valuable business experience from working in New York for about a decade," Carne said. "I want to improve this office and make things more accurate and up to date on an individual property basis, and then I have ideas to do that."

She said if she were elected, the Assessor's Office would revalue every property, every year.

"I've seen on the residential side that property in certain areas will sit for a number of years and then take a big jump up," Carne said. "I see properties that have inaccurate information on them. And so the valuation is not correct because there's an extra building on the property or they're not counting the second floor."

Carne said the Assessor's Office needs a new computer assisted mass appraisal system. She said she didn't know how much that would cost. She said she believed the office could revalue all properties annually with its current level of staffing.

Carne said she would hold town hall meetings in different parts of the county and do more to educate taxpayers on the valuation process and how they can best give input to make corrections.

"Although things may be more fair than they were 20 years ago, and more accurate than they were 20 years ago, I think that there's still significant improvement that we should see out of this office," Carne said.