Minutes 09-05-2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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