Douglas County Assessor Candidates 2026: Toby Damisch vs Kara Garr, and What the Assessor Actually Controls About Your Tax Bill

Everything on your property tax bill is multiplied against one number, and the assessor's office produces it. That makes this the county race with the most direct effect on your money and the least public attention, which is a combination worth correcting.

What the assessor does, and does not

The assessor's office determines the actual value of every parcel in Douglas County on a two-year cycle, using sales data from the prior period, and sends you a notice of valuation each May in a reappraisal year. That value, times the state's assessment rate, times the mill levies of every district you live in, is your bill. The assessor controls the first number only. The rate comes from the legislature; the mills come from the county, the school district, your town and your metro district. An assessor candidate promising lower taxes is promising something the office cannot deliver; what the office can deliver is accurate values, a clear explanation, and an appeals process that works.

Toby Damisch, Republican

Damisch was elected in 2022 after more than two decades on the office's staff, the last eight years as chief deputy assessor. Raised in eastern Iowa, he holds a degree in community and regional planning with an economics minor from Iowa State. His first term spanned the two extremes of the recent market: the 2023 reappraisal, when values across the metro jumped by historic amounts and the office was flooded with appeals, and the 2025 cycle, when residential values in Douglas County came in roughly flat, between about minus 10 and plus 5 percent with most near zero, while commercial values softened. He has been the public face of both, including radio explainers on how the numbers are built. His campaign site lists customer service (including AI agents) and technology as priorities, says the office "returned over $1,000,000 back to the County General Fund" in three years, and argues the 2023 spike "never needed to occur, and was mismanaged by single party control in Denver." His issues page adds protecting and expanding the Senior Property Tax Exemption, reducing the Business Personal Property Tax, and school choice.

Kara Garr, Democrat

Garr has lived in the county since 2012 and works in public administration. She went back to school at 35, after 15 years raising three children, and holds a bachelor's in public service and a master's in public administration focused on governance and accountability. Her site does not claim an appraisal or real estate background. Her platform is about the experience of dealing with the office: a published valuation checklist showing how a property was valued, plain-language videos and guides on how assessment works, a step-by-step appeals resource, and a customer-service culture. "The Assessor's Office should be a place where you can ask questions and get answers," she says.

The real question for both

Neither candidate's site addresses the thing that actually moves Douglas County bills, which is how the office handles the next reappraisal in 2027 if the market turns. For Damisch: what did the office learn from the 2023 appeal wave, and what changed? For Garr: how does a candidate without appraisal experience supervise a staff of appraisers, and what would she change about the valuation model itself rather than the communication around it? Both are fair questions; neither has an obvious answer.

What to watch

Like the treasurer and clerk races, this one follows registration unless something intervenes. The 2023 valuations left a lot of homeowners angry at an office they had never thought about, and 2027 will bring another cycle. Whether that anger attaches to the incumbent or dissipates is the only real variable. Our read on the county's row offices this year.

More: every race and measure on your ballot. We do not endorse candidates. Campaigns can send corrections to hello@discoverdougco.com.