Citing turnovers in staff that have put the county’s effort to assess property values behind schedule, New Hanover County plans to contract with an outside firm to assist with its latest revaluation—the first full “measure and list” of properties the county has conducted in more than two decades.
At an agenda briefing Thursday, commissioners were updated on the revaluation effort, which seeks to determine the true market value of properties in the county and bring those values up to date. While counties in North Carolina are required to conduct revaluations every eight years, New Hanover has been updating its data more frequently, its most recent reval taking effect in 2012.
This latest effort, started last September and expected to continue through 2016, involves what is called a “full measure and list” of properties, requiring more time for appraisers to physically visit and assess each of the nearly 100,000 parcels of property in the county. Tax Administrator Roger Kelley said that effort is about 35 percent complete, with staff visiting 28,000 parcels since last fall.
However, Kelley said turnovers in staff have resulted in the process falling 11,000 parcels behind schedule. To help staff pick up the pace, Kelley told the board he plans to recommend contracting the property evaluations to an outside firm, allowing his in-house staff to devote their time solely to the property visits and fieldwork.
Of three bids received, Kelley said he will recommend awarding the contract, valued at $1.092 million, to Dallas, Texas-based Tyler Technologies Inc., which he said has experience in revaluations that distinguished the company from other bidders.
The bid is below the $1.5 million the county had planned to set aside for the reval effort, contributing $300,000 in this fiscal year’s budget into a fund specific the reval. While the county’s previous two revaluations were done in-house, Kelley said the staff changes and a firm deadline for completion requires him to seek outside assistance.
Noting the firm would determine property values based on data his staff will collect in the field, Kelley said Friday: “We don’t have the time for my staff to do both, and the data collection is critical. It’s long overdue being cleaned up.
“The reason we’re contracting out is we need to get it done within a certain amount of time. And with the staff we have now, it wouldn’t be possible,” he said, noting he had just finished interviewing an applicant for positions that are available. Kelley told the board Thursday two positions were recently vacated by staff who took jobs elsewhere with higher-paying salaries.
Kelley said the goal is to finish the fieldwork by April 2016. “That will give us time to have everything completed so that the evaluation portion from the company that we’re going to contract with will have the time to come in and actually visit every property, drive by, and assign a value based on the updated data that we’re giving them,” he said.
Of the 28,000 parcels that staff has visited thus far, Kelley said his office has contacted 8,000 people about their properties, while the remaining property owners have been left door-hangers encouraging them to complete a questionnaire and return them to the county or to complete the questionnaire online. Kelley said about 4,500 hangers have been returned, and staff has received emails or faxes for 600 parcels.
Related story: Appraisers to start property visits for 2017 revaluation
“We’re getting more than what we anticipated back,” Kelley said. “We’re trying every means we can so we don’t hear ‘No one’s ever visited my property.’”
In cases where no one is home at a property, Kelley said staff measures the property as they can while respecting locked gates or “No trespassing” signs.
“We are trying to make this as painless as possible for our people and for the taxpayer, and we’re not trying to infringe on their privacy,” he said. “So we do respect locks and signs.”
Once the reval is completed, the new values will take effect Jan. 1, 2017. Property owners will be able to appeal their valuations if they disagree with the county’s determinations.
The contract will be presented to commissioners for consideration at their regular meeting Jan. 5.
A webpage specific to the revaluation process has been established on the tax department’s website. More information about the appraisal process, including an online map detailing staff’s progress, can be found on the page, accessible via this link.
Past story: County to hold off reval one year, to accommodate property ‘measure and list’
Jonathan Spiers is a reporter for Port City Daily. He can be reached at (910) 772-6313 or [email protected]. On Twitter: @jrspiers
