Biography Don Sumners, CPA, RTA Tax Assessor-Collector and Voter Registrar Harris County, Texas

Don Sumners, who took office November 15, 2010 as Harris County’s Tax Assessor-Collector and Voter Registrar, is a native Houstonian with a long history of community service and deep and wide knowledge of accounting and real estate. Those are valuable assets in an office that collects more than $4 billion in property taxes each year.

He has a long history of advocating for the public, even when it means confronting powerful special interests. He did that as director and treasurer of the Houston Property Rights Association, which dug out and publicized inconvenient facts about local governments’ spending practices and over-hyped costly, public projects. He continued advocating wiser spending while Harris County Treasurer in 1995-98.

Before Sumners retired November 30, 2009, he served as the Harris County Tax Office’s Director of Customer Service, Director of Auditing and Director of Quality Assurance.

In the private sector, he was an accountant, including a tax partner in the Houston office of a small national CPA firm. He also was controller of a small, publicly owned defense contractor, Tax Manager of a public listed investment and insurance firm and owner and operator of several small businesses.

Sumners is a graduate of Bellaire High School. While at the University of Texas, he served as an assistant election judge before he was old enough to vote. While doing post-graduate work at what now is West Texas A&M, he was treasurer of the Randall County Republican Party.

His post graduate work included substantial courses at UT, West Texas and the University of Houston in accounting, finance and economics and obtaining his professional designations as a Certified Public Accountant, real estate broker, Certified Financial Planner (since surrendered) and Registered Texas Assessor-Collector.

Sumners made unsuccessful runs for Houston City Council and City Controller. He was president of the Main Street Optimist Club and, while living in Dallas, coached a girls’ volleyball team to two championships.

He is married to Rita Steininger Sumners. Between them, they are the parents of six children and 15 grandchildren.