San Ramon tech entrepreneur Kismat Kathrani is running for Contra Costa County Assessor on a platform of modernization, accountability, and resisting what he calls a reflex to put new taxes on the ballot whenever budgets tighten.
In an interview with OpGov.news, Kathrani one of three candidates in the June 2 primary to succeed longtime incumbent Gus Kramer laid out why he believes a political outsider with a 25-year tech career belongs in an office most voters rarely think about.
Why he says he's running
Kathrani told OpGov.news that his research into California's finances pushed him into the race.
"California is one of the very rich states and it is also the highest-tax state, but when we go and look into it, it's also running in deficit — basically bankrupt," he said. According to Kathrani, "83% of the cities in California are basically running in deficit," which he said he found "shocking." (OpGov.news could not independently verify this specific figure, though California's Legislative Analyst's Office, CalMatters, and Pew have all documented widespread structural deficits in cities across the state, including a projected $18 billion state shortfall for 2026-27.)
He argues the same pattern shows up at the county level, where he says the current office has been controlled by the same person for more than three decades, and where the leading candidate to replace that incumbent is the incumbent's own endorsement.
"If nobody makes a change, then the cities and counties are going to run into deficit," Kathrani said, "and the easiest thing that we see on the ballot is an increase in the tax."
On the tax measures
Kathrani opposes both major tax-related items facing San Ramon Valley voters this June.
For context, San Ramon voters already approved a 1% local sales tax in November 2024 Measure N, which passed with 56.21% of the vote and took effect April 1, 2025, raising the city's combined rate to 9.75%.
Now on the June 2, 2026 ballot:
Measure A — updates Contra Costa's urban limit line (a land-use question, not a tax).
Measure B — a 0.625% countywide sales tax for five years, projected to raise about $150 million annually to backfill federal cuts to health care and social services. The Board of Supervisors placed it on the ballot in a 4-1 vote.
Measure G — a $920 million Contra Costa Community College District bond, levying roughly $10 per $100,000 of assessed property value. Requires 55% to pass.
Kathrani said three additional tax measures on the ballot is too many on the heels of Measure N.
"While accountability and living in the means is very important, we need to look at the budget. We need to balance the budget," he said. He added that he has "lived in other places" and gotten "the same features and everything pretty similar at far lower cost."
(Kathrani said the combined effect of the measures would push San Ramon "well above 11% sales tax." If Measure B passes, the actual combined sales tax rate in San Ramon would rise to roughly 10.375%; Measure G is a property tax bond, not a sales tax.)
On the current office's record
Kathrani argued public trust in the assessor's office has been damaged.
"There are multiple litigations and multiple taxpayer dollars that have been paid towards settling the current assessor's claims," he said. "When you try to elect the same people over and over again, you're going to get the same results."
He is referring to outgoing Assessor Gus Kramer, in office since 1994, whose tenure has included a $1 million settlement in a 2009 sexual retaliation case involving his office, a 2018 censure by the Board of Supervisors, and a 2019 Grand Jury accusation seeking his removal for alleged misconduct. Kramer has disputed the allegations and is not seeking re-election.
The race to succeed him is between Kathrani, Vince Robb (the current assistant county assessor, endorsed by Kramer), and Nick Spinner (a longtime county employee).
What he says sets him apart
Kathrani says he brings "more than 25 years of modernization experience and more than 20 years of leadership experience." He has been a business owner since 2007, when he became managing partner of Tekreliance LLC, and in 2012 founded his current company, Info Way Solutions, a Bay Area IT staffing and consulting firm. Kathrani has said the company has worked with enterprise clients including Apple and Walmart, a claim OpGov.news could not independently verify.
"The leadership experience that I have is something I see missing in both the candidates that are running against me," he said. "I'm an outsider. I'm running for political office for the first time, and I plan to bring business efficiency to the county."
His policy proposals
The most concrete piece of Kathrani's platform is the property assessment appeals process. He said current appeals "physically" require an in-person trip to the office and take 9 to 18 months, against a California mandate of two years.
If elected, Kathrani said he would aim to:
Cut the appeals timeline to four to six months.
Move filings, inquiries, and customer service online, with multilingual phone and digital support.
Hold regular town halls to walk residents — particularly seniors and veterans — through property tax bills, supplemental assessments, and appeal rights.
"Everything has to be done digitally," he said. "Being in Silicon Valley, if you are not doing that, then something is wrong with our office."
The bigger goal, in his framing, is fiscal discipline that ripples down to the cities.
"If we have the correct budget, the schools, the cities in the county will be able to support the major important services — like police, like schools, like libraries," Kathrani said. "While the culture of accountability starts coming from the county, I'm sure the same will be perpetrated down to the cities."
Contra Costa County's primary is June 2, 2026. Vote-by-mail ballots went out May 4. A candidate can win the assessor's race outright with more than 50% of the vote; otherwise the top two finishers advance to a November runoff.
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