Observations and Opinions
1) Ineffective management of the Assessing Department
a.
b
C.
d
Lack of communications skills
No analysis of how the department operates currently
No recommendations to improve efficiency of operations
No review of, or correction to inaccurate job descriptions
2) Lack of internal policies and procedures to guide operations
a.
b.
Cc.
Little to no internal training for assessors
Too much reliance on national and state training programs/documentation
No documented internal assessor training to minimize the subjective
components of developing property assessments
. No new hire training process or Board of Assessors orientation/workshops
e. State required training focuses on changes in rules and laws
Development of polices for the use of sales information, MLS information,
Building Permits, Effective Year Built (EYB) metric, property card changes
Note: A policy committee consisting of the HR Director, Chief of Staff,
Chief Financial Officer and Deputy Counsel has begun reviewing all city policies.
Due to findings during the completion of this audit, a policy to effectively
document employee daily travel has been written and will be submitted to the
mayor for consideration.
3) Disparate software systems utilized by the department are not optimized
a.
b.
c.
Continued reliance on ADMINS software to link systems — need migration path
to eliminate the use of ADMINS
Not fully utilizing the modules in the AssessPRO CAMA system such as
Exemptions/Credits and Abatements
See the Appendix, Exhibit 3 for a software application diagram of all software
systems used by the Assessing Department
Note: Due to findings during the completion of this audit and the need for
an accurate assessment of the GIS function, the mayor’s office has retained
a consultant, CDMSmith, to evaluate applications across several
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