Former staff say SLO County assessor rarely at work. 'It was like there was no leader'

Several former employees are now corroborating allegations that current San Luis Obispo County Assessor Tom Bordonaro has rarely been at work during many of the years he's been in the position, saying the lack of leadership goes beyond absences caused by medical needs.

Bordonaro denies the allegations and said he worked from home when was out of the office for four major surgeries between 2012 and 2017 that required him to be in bed for eight weeks or more at a time.

But long-term employees of the county office who retired or changed careers told The Tribune that Bordonaro's lengthy and frequent absences extended beyond his recovery time and were a burden on employees and caused delays in work. They said the office has been run mostly by senior staff.

Public records show that Bordonaro attended only 20 percent of the assessment appeal hearings held since the beginning of 2013. The last hearing he attended was in 2016.

"The majority of the time, he was not there. His senior staff was the ones that were doing the work for him," said Nancy Ward, who retired in 2017 as a supervisor of appraisal support after 15 years with the department.

She is one of six former staff members who made similar comments during independent interviews with The Tribune for this report.

"It was like there was no leader," said Linda Burgett, who retired in 2016 after 17 years.

Bordonaro said the allegations are "absolutely not true."

"I love this job. I love helping people through the convoluted tax system," he said.

Bordonaro is campaigning to be re-elected in the June election to the position that has a budgeted salary of $173,576 plus benefits valued around $75,000 for the next fiscal year. He was first elected to the office in 2002 having had no experience in the Assessor's Office and has run unopposed every four years until now.

David Boyer, who worked in the Assessor's Office for the past five years, is challenging Bordonaro, campaigning with the message that there is a "crisis in leadership" and that Bordonaro's absence is an "abuse of public trust."

Bordonaro said he has since recovered from his medical issues, and even when he's not been in the office, he's worked from home.

"I had my office set up. I'd dial right on to my work computer," Bordonaro said in a phone interview with The Tribune. "I was in constant contact with my management team. Was I physically in the office during those periods? No, but I was working."

Elected officials don't accrue sick leave or vacation time and are not required to keep set hours.

Former employees said he was gone sometimes for months; meetings were postponed and office-wide work deadlines were missed.

"Part of the time he was gone for surgeries. We were all aware of those times. But he was also off a lot in between surgeries," said Sara Sylwester, who mostly worked out of the North County office during her 26-year career that ended when she retired in 2013.

"I don't think the taxpayers of San Luis Obispo County are being served by an absentee assessor," said Dana O'Brien, who left the office in 2012 after 23 years. "If anyone else had been absent that much they wouldn't have a job, and they certainly wouldn't have had that paycheck."

Bordonaro dismissed the criticism as coming from disgruntled employees.

"I don't understand why these former employees would be so disgruntled," Bordonaro said. "None of them expressed their problems when they worked for me or soon after."

At least one said she did.

Burgett told him in December 2016 that he should have stepped down due to his absences and that the office had been without a true leader for too long. She wrote those comments in the last paragraph of a letter that she said she sent to him when she retired.

Former employees said even before his recent surgeries, Bordonaro was in the office less than the previous assessor, Dick Frank, who they say was early to arrive and late to leave on weekdays and often worked weekends. Bordonaro, they said, was in the office a few days a week, was out for illness and took long vacations, like an annual 10 to 12 days off during the Mid-State Fair.

"He was beyond a hands-off manager, to the point that I thought he was disinterested," said Rod Hallin, who retired from the office in 2011 after a 30-year career.

"I always got along well with Tom. I don't have an ax to grind," Hallin said.

He said it's important for the assessor to attend appeal hearings because "that's where they settle a dispute between a taxpayer and the Assessor's Office."

"Over the last two and half years, he's been at two of them. That's indicative to me that he's not there, and it's falling to senior staff," Hallin said.

Bordonaro said staff are trained to handle appeal hearings, and his work often takes him out of the office.

"There's a lot of other things that go on as a head of a department besides sitting behind the desk. I don't micromanage my employees, everybody knows that," Bordonaro said.

This story was originally published May 19, 2018 at 5:55 PM with the headline "Former staff say SLO County assessor rarely at work. 'It was like there was no leader'."