Valued assessments
A 19-year incumbent faces his first competition

Assessing property values and refereeing basketball at first might not seem similar, but Tom Schauwecker has decades of experience in both vocations and believes there are several parallels.

"Whenever you blow the whistle and call a foul, half the people in the gym are going to get mad at you," he said. "When I make a revaluation" of property, "half the people aren’t mad, but maybe half don’t like it. … There are a lot of similarities. You have to make tough calls. You have to know the laws, the rules, the mechanics and be in the right position to make the call."

As Boone County assessor, Schauwecker has for the past 19 years overseen the assessment of every property in Boone County for the purpose of determining property taxes. Friends and colleagues say Schauwecker is passionate about the job, though at times it is an unpopular occupation.

"Let’s face it. You know the tax assessor doesn’t wear a white hat and come riding in to the rescue, like the sheriff or the prosecutor," he said. "I’m a tax man. I’ve got a black hat in many people’s eyes. There is a strong resistance to property tax in many people’s eyes. … Maybe I see it on a firsthand basis."

Pete Grathwohl has been a family friend of the Schauweckers since they moved to Columbia in the mid-1960s. Grathwohl said Schauwecker is "not the typical type of politician."

"He is easily approachable, and his door is always open," said Grathwohl, who is helping Schauwecker raise money for his campaign. "I believe in Tom. I believe anything he does in life, he does passionately. He can take that into the work force, and he has done a phenomenal job for 18 years. … He will always be there to look out for the best interests of the community. … He has proven to me for 40 years that he’s someone you can count on."

While overseeing thousands of appraisals, Schauwecker has garnered some criticism, which came to a head this year when detractors took to the Internet to air their grievances on a Web site titled Retire Tom Schauwecker. The site is run by a group called Citizens for Property Tax Fairness, but the names of members are not listed. A local blogger and public Schauwecker critic, Mike Martin, has said he is one of about eight people who formed the group.

The site mostly contains links to archived Tribune stories and castigates Schauwecker for changing the way vehicles are assessed and for tying up public funds in legal battles with large companies. It also implies Schauwecker caused the local 3M plant downsizing.

Schauwecker said he has not visited the Web site but has heard of it from friends.

"That’s what the next six weeks are all about," Schauwecker said, describing the Web site as a source of misinformation. "The campaign will be an opportunity to set the record straight. Really, that is how I view this election. … The truth has never gotten in the way of editorial comments. It’s cyberspace, the Wild West - you can be anonymous."

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For the first time since he was elected in 1988, Schauwecker, 54, is facing a challenger in the Aug. 5 Democratic primary - Ashland Alderwoman Barb Bishop. No other candidates have filed.

After graduating from Hickman High School in 1971, Schauwecker enrolled in the University of Missouri and studied business administration. He worked his way through school by doing construction work for the Central Bridge Co.

Before graduating from MU in 1979, Schauwecker married his high school sweetheart, Sharon, and had earned both a real estate and a broker’s license.

"Real estate in the ’70s was like the stock market in the ’90s," Schauwecker said. "It was hot. I took every real estate appraisal class I could through the business school. … I don’t know what it was about the real estate market that fascinated me. Perhaps it was the extraordinary market at the time."

When the Missouri Supreme Court in 1979 made a monumental decision and ordered that all 114 counties update all property values, Schauwecker got his foot in the door of the assessor’s office. He was brought on board as a full-time temporary worker in the reassessment office.

"The beautiful thing about working for my predecessor is that I got an extraordinary overview of all 687 square miles" of Boone County, said Schauwecker, who worked under county Assessor Don Fenton. "It was a wide range, from feed mills in Centralia to downtown business buildings to manufacturing to new homes to 100-year-old historic homes. I got more experience in 3½ years than a fee appraiser can get in three times that much time."

After reassessment was over in 1985, Schauwecker went into the private sector as a fee appraiser for Moore & Shryock Real Estate Appraisal & Consulting Services. Yet, he was still interested in returning to the assessor’s office.

"The day I left, Don and I had lunch at Boone Tavern," Schauwecker said. "I told him that if he were ever tired of the responsibilities" of county assessor, "that I might be interested in assuming those responsibilities. I said ‘Don, you know, the opportunity, I could never repay you, and I’d never run against you. But if you decide you’re not interested, let me know.’ "

In summer 1987, Fenton approached Schauwecker about running for assessor, and Schauwecker decided to throw his hat in the ring.

Schauwecker prevailed in a three-way primary and in the 1988 general election.

"I thought I knew everything there was to know, but I didn’t know a darn thing," Schauwecker said, looking back on his first years in office. "I walked in the door September of ’89, and that budget was due, and I didn’t know where" the money "was coming from or going to."

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During his tenure in office, Schauwecker has seen the county grow from $650 million assessed valuation to more than $2.2 billion.

Boone County Recorder Bettie Johnson has known Schauwecker since his days working for Fenton. The recorder’s and assessor’s offices often work closely with property records and deed transfers. She said that as the county has grown, the assessor’s office has embraced database and mapping technologies that have helped other government offices and the public.

"I think his ultimate goal has always been to provide a fair process for the assessment and taxation process," Johnson said. "When you implement technology, and when you try to provide equity among tax bases, that becomes very, very important. I think that’s one of the things that make Tom stand out in terms of being professional and fair and dedicated to the job that he took on."

Johnson describes Schauwecker as "constantly in motion."

During meetings at his office in the Boone County Government Center, Schauwecker scoots from shelf to desk to cabinet in his wheeled office chair, grabbing documents and rattling off state statutes and appraisal ratios as he goes.

Outside the office, Schauwecker said, he has always loved spending time with his now-grown children - Kurt, 21, and Anne, 18.

"My children have been my avocation," he said. "When you’re married 10 years before the first one comes along, well, Kurt and Anne have been the center of my non-working life for the last 21 years."

Schauwecker was a high school basketball and football official for 19 years and refereed two state football championships. He also enjoys the outdoors and hunts water fowl, but friend and fellow hunter Russell Chambers said Schauwecker makes sure to schedule hunting trips around Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes.

An Eagle Scout, Schauwecker volunteers with the Boy Scouts of America as a merit badge counselor and helps organize the annual Boy Scouts Sporting Clay Shoot fundraiser.

"The main thing that I see about a person like Tom Schauwecker is a deep-rooted sense of community," said Chambers, who met Schauwecker about 30 years ago. "He’s from the area. He really understands the dynamics of Boone County in a lot of ways. … You never see any favoritism on anything. Everybody’s going to get treated the same. … I don’t have a whole lot of time for friends, but I try to make time for Tom. He’s the kind of guy who’s enjoyable and pleasant to be around."

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Reach Sara Semelka at (573) 815-1717 or ssemelka@tribmail.com.

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