Federal prosecutors say he paid millions over the past 35 years to city assessors who slashed tax bills for hundreds of buildings.

For eleven years, he also served as the city assessor.

Mr. Schussler worked for 30 years as a city assessor before retiring in 1967.

"The computer programming and database management is way behind," said a former city assessor who now runs a tax department in another city.

The city assessor's office later placed a $16,000 value on the decks.

It would create a new independent position, called the city assessor, outside the department.

He was elected city assessor in 1990 and ran unsuccessfully for mayor last year.

Those limits prevented city assessors from keeping pace with the real-estate boom of the 1980's.

The Times study found that city assessors failed to meet the standard 45 percent of the time.

But capitalization rates set by city assessors do not consider financing.