City’s chief tax appraiser embroiled in controversy

ATLANTA — In 2009, when Tony L. George was the assistant chief appraiser in Fulton County, Ga., he was approached by his boss. Staff appraisers were complaining about his heavy-handed management style, saying he forced them to lower property values against their wishes.

“I said, ‘Tony, just pretend you were raised in the South. Talk to people differently,’ ” Burt Manning, the county’s former chief appraiser, recently recounted. “He just turned around and told them, ‘Go do it.’ And they didn’t like this.”

Problems lingered at D.C. tax office

Debbie Cenziper

Since embezzlement scandal in 2007, audits said the office was still vulnerable to errors and fraud.

• Read tax reports obtained by The Washington Post
• Tax office was warned about database security

D.C. Council members question agency’s vetting procedures

Nikita Stewart and Debbie Cenziper

D.C. Council members express concerns about the vetting of the District’s chief tax appraiser. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 10 to discuss tax office operations.

D.C.’s chief tax appraiser embroiled in controversy

Nikita Stewart and Debbie Cenziper

Tony L. George faced complaints about bias and tax reductions in his former job in Georgia.

D.C. CFO’s office urged to conduct more thorough background checks

Debbie Cenziper and Nikita Stewart

Natwar Gandhi’s office has been urged to conduct more thorough background checks, especially those who handle money.

Councilman questions tax database controls

Nikita Stewart and Debbie Cenziper

David A. Catania has sent a letter to the District’s chief financial officer seeking a response to an internal audit that questioned oversight of the city’s property appraisal database.

Audit: Some D.C. tax officials could alter property data without detection

Debbie Cenziper and Nikita Stewart

An audit finds a few managers could alter the assessed property values, leaving the city vulnerable to “erroneous or inappropriate transactions.”

D.C. tax deals prompt anger, investigations

Debbie Cenziper, Nikita Stewart and Ted Mellnik

District officials have shaved $2.6 billion off the taxable value of commercial properties, angering city appraisers and prompting an investigation, The Washington Post found.

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Dramatic rise in D.C. tax office settlements

Concerns about George’s actions in lowering property values prompted his termination in 2010, Fulton County officials said. Later that year, several female appraisers filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against the county, which is pending. In court records and recent interviews with The Washington Post, the appraisers allege in part that they were pushed to lower property values without justification. George filed his own lawsuit against the county alleging discrimination and breach of contract but dropped his complaint in March 2011.

The District hired him eight months later. He is now the city’s chief tax appraiser and once again embroiled in a controversy that involves reduced property values.

This year, George led an effort to settle assessment disputes that lowered the proposed taxable value of 500 commercial properties by $2.6 billion, eight times as much as the total reduction from 2011. The settlements represented a loss of about $48 million in potential revenue. One staff appraiser filed an anonymous complaint, and the FBI and internal auditors are investigating. George did not return calls and e-mails seeking comment.

It’s unclear how much Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi or his office knew about George’s background when he was brought on in November. Despite repeated requests, Gandhi and his staff declined to provide information about what they knew and when, including whether they knew about George’s termination and the federal lawsuit, or about who made the decision to hire him, citing the confidentiality of personnel matters. The agency also declined to make public George’s résuméor job application; The Post has filed an appeal with the mayor’s office.

“As we have stated to you previously, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer does not make public personnel information about its employees,” Gandhi’s spokesman, David Umansky, said in an e-mail last week.

For years, city officials, including former D.C. auditor Deborah A. Nichols, have urged Gandhi to thoroughly vet employees, particularly those with fiduciary responsibilities.

Agency officials said their screenings are adequate. In an interview with The Post last month, Gandhi said his agency has a “reputable recruiting firm to do our recruitment, and we rely on their referral to make sure all of this is done properly.” Gandhi’s office said that the firm provided “no derogatory information about Mr. George’s previous employment history.”

Agency officials said the McCormick Group, a regionally based executive search firm, conducted a pre-employment screening of George.