Agenda - 10-15-2013 - 5a - Laserfiche WebLink

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14 1 Commissioner Price agreed with these two items. 2 3 • Approval of Remaining Consent Agenda 4 5 A motion was made by Commissioner McKee, seconded by Commissioner Pelissier to approve the 6 remaining items on the consent agenda. 7 VOTE: UNANIMOUS 8 9 • Discussion and Approval of the Items Removed from the Consent Agenda 10 11 g, FY 2013-14 Budget Amendment #1-D — Approval of Two (2.0 FTE) New Appraiser I Positions 12 within the Revaluation Fund 13 The Board considered approval of Budget Amendment#1-D by approving two (2.0 FTE) additional 14 Appraiser I positions within the Revaluation Fund as part of the cyclical North Carolina revaluation process, 15 and an appropriation from the Revaluation Fund's Unassigned Fund Balance to cover the FY 2013-14 16 costs. 17 Commissioner Gordon said her concerns have to do with the process. She feels the Board has 18 been very careful about adding positions outside of the budget process. She is concerned about adding 19 permanent full time positions outside of the budget process. She would prefer that these be time limited 20 positions for two years, which would give the board time to consider these positions in the context of the 21 budget process. 22 Dwane Brinson said this was part of his presentation back in May, in reference to the revaluation in 23 2017. He said this process simply swapping contract services for in-house full time employee positions. 24 He said this allows for greater quality control and accurate record keeping. He said the County is going 25 back to a 4 year revaluation cycle after 2017. 26 Commissioner Dorosin clarified that the Board voted to push back revaluation two years. He asked 27 if these two positions would have been needed if the Board had not pushed this back. 28 Dwane Brinson said no. He said the 2015 revaluation would have been a different revaluation and 29 the 2017 one will be better. 30 Commissioner Dorosin asked if the 2017 would be more comprehensive, and Dwane Brinson said 31 yes. 32 Commissioner Dorosin asked if these new staff members will begin working on this revaluation right 33 away. 34 Dwane Brinson said there have already been planning sessions to move forward. He said once 35 these positions are on board, assignments will be given, and revaluations will move forward. He said that 36 once these two new appraisers are on staff, every area and neighborhood in the County will have an 37 assigned appraiser. 38 Commissioner Gordon asked why this wasn't approved during the budget process. 39 Frank Clifton said staff developed the budget in January, and the final recommended budget came 40 in May. He said staff were doing survey work in the spring and found some significant errors. This was 41 late in the budget process and the situation was still unclear. He said staff needed to have on-site 42 verification of property structures and their sizes on an on-going basis moving forward. He noted that tax 43 refunds cannot be given for past years, but data can be corrected moving forward. He feels that taxpayers 44 deserve accurate analysis to ensure a proper baseline prior to the upcoming revaluation. He said it was 45 eventually determined that this process would require 2 more appraisers. 46 Commissioner Gordon said she is already convinced that the positions are needed; however she is 47 not convinced that the positions are needed beyond a limited time period of two years. 48 Frank Clifton said that if the positions are time limited, staff would probably come back and ask for 49 more time. He said this is because these positions will be needed going forward, as the appeal process 50 extends well beyond the evaluation. He said that these appraisers will be assigned to neighborhoods, and 51 maintaining this will prevent inaccurate or conflicting valuations within the same area. 52 Chair Jacobs verified that Dwane Brinson, as a senior staff member, was making an affirmative 53 statement that these positions are needed on a permanent, full time basis, even after the revaluations. 54 Dwane Brinson said yes.