Jordan Z. Marks has officially been sworn in as San Diego County’s new San Diego County Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk (ARCC) for a four-year term through 2026.  He is the 37^th person to hold the Assessor position.

Marks, Chief Deputy Assessor / Taxpayer Advocate with the ARCC office, recently took the formal oath of office after winning in the November 2022 election. A public ceremonial swearing-in also has been held.

“I am honored for the opportunity to lead the San Diego County Assessor Recorder County Clerk office and continue the delivery of great customer service,” said Marks. “We ran a positive campaign that focused on my trusted record of delivering results for the community. I’m grateful for the voters’ confidence in my commitment to transparency and fairness and advocating for limiting property taxes for renters and homeowners whenever possible.”

Marks ran a campaign that focused on his more than 12 years of experience as a property tax and taxpayer advocate. Serving in the role as the ARCC’s Taxpayer Advocate, Marks has personally resolved more than 1,000 customer cases since joining the office in 2017 and helping taxpayer save millions.

He succeeds the retiring Ernest J. “Ernie” Dronenburg who served three terms as ARCC starting in 2010. Dronenburg, 79, endorsed Marks for the job.

The ARCC election typically draws little public attention. In fact, in several previous primary elections, Dronenburg received more than 50 percent of the vote resulting in no runoffs in the general election.

However, nearly every county resident who owns property or rents is affected by what happens at the ARCC office.

As County Assessor, Marks will oversee assessing the value of real estate and personal property, which in San Diego includes planes, boats and certain mobile homes.

As Recorder, Marks will be responsible for the recording of all legal real estate documents and for locating, identifying and determining an assessment value for parcels subject to property tax. Property taxes constitute the largest share of revenue for the county.

As County Clerk, Marks will help new businesses with registering their fictitious business name statements and issue birth, marriage and death certificates.

The office has an $81 million budget with more than 450 employees and five offices in San Diego County. Recent surveys have given the office a 98.6 percent “outstanding” customer service rating.

Working at the ARCC under Dronenburg, Marks introduced several innovative outreach programs that delivered unprecedented property tax savings.

A special program benefiting disabled veterans has helped more than 13,500 San Diego County vets save more than $18.7 million since it was introduced in 2018.

Another Marks-initiated program saved an estimated $210 million in property taxes for renters, small businesses homeless service and affordable housing providers.

Another program, called “Owner Alert,” consists of free 24/7 online monitoring tool that alerts homeowners to real estate fraud if someone is trying to fraudulently steal their home’s legal title.

Another educational campaign explained the benefits of Proposition 19, which offers significant benefits to homeowners who are over age 55. Prop. 19 allows seniors to upgrade their lifestyle without increasing their property taxes three times in their lifetime and with less restrictive buying options. Prop. 19 offers a senior exclusion from reassessment. At least one person involved in the transaction must be over age 55 to qualify for the carry-over transfer of a lower property tax rate to the new residence.

When Covid-19 shut down all government offices, Marks’ leadership helped continue wedding ceremonies by converting a vacant snack shop in the park into the “marriage hut,” where they safely continued marriage services. The San Diego ARCC office receive national recognition for being the only clerk’s office in California to remain open with COVID safe protocols for in-person weddings.

“My passion for public service drives my desire to continue serving and continue creating solutions for the community while delivering great customer service,” Marks said. “My priorities for the entire office will be to deliver first-class customer service to all San Diegans.”

During the campaign, Marks was endorsed by the San Diego County Firefighters CAL Fire group because Marks helped write a new law that protected San Diegans devastated by wildfires from being punished with additional taxes when they rebuilt their homes.

Other endorsements included the San Diego Union Tribune, California Women’s Leadership Association, San Diego County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, San Diego Renters’ Alliance, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Deputy Sheriffs’ Association of San Diego County, San Diego Asian Business Association, San Diego Downtown Partnership, San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce, Neighborhood Market Association, Carpenters Union Local 619, San Diego Voice & Viewpoint newspaper and Pacific Southwest Association of Realtors.

Overall, Marks received endorsements from more than 3,000 community leaders and 50 business and labor organizations.

Father Joe’s Villages credited Marks with tax-saving guidance that helped the nonprofit provide more housing to help homeless people avoid living on the streets. 

A San Diego native and current resident of San Diego’s Rolando community, Marks paid his own way through school, including MiraCosta College, University of California Los Angeles, University at Buffalo School of Law. Marks is Certified Cyber Security Executive from the University of San Diego and is a California Certified Property Tax Appraiser, a legal requirement to serve in the ARCC office.

The website for the ARCC office is www.SDARCC.com.

Photo Credit: Nancee E. Lewis / For The San Diego Union-Tribune