Agenda - 03-21-2006-9c - Laserfiche WebLink

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ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: March 21, 2006 Action Agenda Item No. Q~G SUBJECT: Business Personal Property Audit Contract DEPARTMENT: Assessor/Purchasing PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No ATTACHMENT(S): Contract INFORMATION CONTACT: John Smith, 919-245-2101 Pam Jones or David Cannell, 245-2650 PURPOSE: To consider approving a contract with Evans and Associates to initiate a pilot program of auditing business personal property accounts. BACKGROUND: In the 2005-2006 budget, the BOCC appropriated $20,000 to cover the first year casts of a business personal property audit pilot program. For many years, the Assessor's office has had an in-house audit team that endeavors to audit the property listings smaller and local business personal property owners. However, staff lacks the time, expertise, and resources to travel much beyond Orange County to audit the larger, non-local businesses that may have headquarters as faraway as Texas or even California. For what may be less than the cost of plane fare, an audit company professional can: 1. travel to the corporate headquarters, 2. do extensive comparisons between what has been listed with the county and the company's depreciation/fixed asset schedule, chart of account, and general ledger, 3 sit down with and converse face to face with company representatives gaining valuable insights, 4 determine whether or not the company has accurately listed and exactly where there may be needed adjustments, 5. educate those making the returns on where and how changes should be made, 6. write up the final reports, and communicate such to the county and audited company, 7. and provide support to the county through any appeals processes. A broader audit program, such as this, that includes visiting headquarters, performing extensive reviews, and conversing face to face with the individuals in charge of making the business personal property returns will increase the prospects for property owners understanding what and how they must list and it will increase the equitable sharing of the property tax burden among all county property owners. Without a broad based audit program, the listing of business personal property, for the larger property owners, becomes a "voluntary" program where the property owner can potentially list as little or as much as desired. An audit program employing professionals can be an invaluable tool to help educate those responsible for listing, and can maximize proper listing.