Minutes 02-07-2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

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3 Bonnie Hammersley recognized Tax Administrator Dwane Brinson, and his assessment officers, for receiving an award for the 2017 revaluation collaborative community outreach efforts. Specifically, the NCAAO took note of Orange County's 2017 Revaluation Partner Program, and its collaborative, transparency and educational components. Dwane Brinson introduced his assessment officers. Chair Dorosin presented the plaque to Dwane Brinson and staff. The Board recognized the Orange County Tax Office staff for this achievement. b. 2017 Orange County Revaluation Update The Board received a high-level overview of the process for the 2017 countywide revaluation, with Tax Office staff scheduled to present more specific findings, numbers, and details of the revaluation to the Board at the February 21, 2017 regular meeting. BACKGROUND: North Carolina counties must conduct a revaluation at least once every eight years. Orange County's last revaluation took effect January 1, 2009. The effective appraisal date of the 2017 revaluation is January 1, 2017. Tax office staff began working on the 2017 revaluation in 2014. A collaborative approach was taken throughout the entire 2017 revaluation, and the community involvement has helped improve the process. In January 2016, the tax office proactively sent each real property owner a snapshot of the property's public record for review and correction. This was an effort to ensure accurate records. Early in the project, the tax office also developed and implemented its award-winning 2017 Revaluation Partner program. Becoming a 2017 Revaluation Partner consists of interested parties reviewing the County's updated tax website, watching three Learn and Share videos, and taking a quiz that consists of ten questions. After successfully passing the quiz, participants earn a Certificate of Achievement deeming them a 2017 Revaluation Partner. At the same time the website was updated to include the 2017 Revaluation Partner program, a revaluation section was added to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list for the Tax Office. In addition, a 2017 Revaluation FAQ brochure will be available in the Tax Office at the time that notices are mailed out. Conducting a countywide revaluation takes significant effort and staff dedication. Orange County has approximately 55,500 real property parcels, and each of those parcels has been modified to reflect a current estimate of market value. Prior to the 2017 revaluation, Orange County had two (2) defined neighborhoods. A neighborhood is basically a group of similar properties. A great example is a subdivision. As part of the process, staff defined more neighborhoods, thereby allowing better organization and pricing models for the current and future revaluations. The County now has 975 neighborhoods. Additionally, prior to the 2017 revaluation staff had limited building use information. Projects such as computing the percentage of residential versus commercial in the tax base required Information Technologies programming and assistance. Throughout the 2017 revaluation, staff invested the time to improve this identification by identifying and coding each of the 55,500 parcels with its corresponding building use, i.e. single-family residential, restaurant, student housing, etc. Reporting for 2017 and forward will be much easier and more accurate because of these efforts.