Background
In 2012, the Board of County Commissioners agreed to an action plan to correct deficiencies in the 2011 countywide property revaluation and to develop a plan to make future revaluations more accurate and a better experience for property owners. The Board also agreed to retain Pearson's Appraisal Service to review the new values for all 1,100 neighborhoods in the County to determine if values were applies correctly. The County also hired Customer Service Solutions to develop a customer service training program for staff in the Assessor's Office in order to improve interaction with the public, especially during the informal appeals process. The Board also approved the appointment of General Manager Bobby Shields to be Assessor through June.
Update (View video of meeting here)
The Board heard from:
- Michael Brown - Real Property Valuation Specialist with the N.C. Department of Revenue
- Jim Barnett - Chairman of the Board of Equalization and Review
- Tom Derham - Chairman of the Citizens Revaluation Advisory Committee
The Board of Equalization and Review (BER) hears formal appeals from property owners who want an adjustment to the value the County placed on their property. There were 10,330 formal appeals that resulted from the 2011 revaluation. The BER agreed to decrease the value on 7,378 of the properties.
Some commissioners have heard from constituents that the appeals process needs fixing and during this meeting the board reaffirmed its earlier decision to appoint an entire new 15-member board by April 2013. The Board also instructed Mr. Shields to direct Pearson's Appraisal to sit in on appeals hearings for the next two weeks and make recommendations to make the appeal process more user-friendly.
Staff continues to make progress on the Board's action plan and will update the Board again at its February 19 meeting.