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HomeMy WebLinkAbout040307 Commercial Tax AssessmntAssessment Process Review Commercial Properties City of Virginia Beach March 2007 ALMY, GLOUDEMANS, JACOBS & DENNE Property Taxation and Assessment Consultants Thanks for the Great Cooperation and Assistance •Jerry Banagan, Assessor •Ron Agnor, Assistant Assessor •Charles Philips, Commercial Supervisor •Commercial staff (George Barnham, Bing Gentry, Pete Lynch, Doug Murphy) •Kim Utley, IT/Data Coordinator •Dia Hayes, Management Services ALMY, GLOUDEMANS, JACOBS & DENNE Property Taxation and Assessment Consultants What We Did •Reviewed appraisal statutes, guidelines, tables, forms, and other documentation •Site visit & interviews (week of Jan 18) •Conducted independent statistical review of assessment accuracy & uniformity •Developed draft and final reports ALMY, GLOUDEMANS, JACOBS & DENNE Property Taxation and Assessment Consultants Summary of Findings •Virginia statutes provide a strong basis for fair and equitable assessment •Assessment procedures are appropriate •Assessments achieve high accuracy/uniformity •Commercial staff is highly professional and productive -but understaffed •New CAMA system is significant enhancement •Various opportunities for improvement exist ALMY, GLOUDEMANS, JACOBS & DENNE Property Taxation and Assessment Consultants Strong Statutory Basis for Accurate Values and Assessments •Assessments based on market value (price property would fetch on open market) •Assessments are updated annually •No artificial value requirements or constraints •Mandatory rate rollback when assessments increase •Usual exemptions; relief for elderly and disabled •Public disclosure of sales prices •Requirement that taxpayers provide requested income/expense data (confidentiality requirement) ALMY, GLOUDEMANS, JACOBS & DENNE Property Taxation and Assessment Consultants Assessment Procedures •Comply with professional standards and recommendations •Primary reliance on “income”approach •Annual income mailers (good response rate) •Sales are reviewed and field inspected •Valuation analyses are thorough/well-done ALMY, GLOUDEMANS, JACOBS & DENNE Property Taxation and Assessment Consultants Assessment Performance •Virginia Beach real estate market has been exceptional strong, esp. in 2004-2006 •Level of assessment between 0.95 and 1.00 •Good uniformity betweencommercial and residential properties •Good uniformity and consistency in values among individual properties •Number of appeals has been low ALMY, GLOUDEMANS, JACOBS & DENNE Property Taxation and Assessment Consultants Budget and Staffing •Budget low by traditional benchmarks --budget per parcel --budget as a % of property tax revenue (0.6%) •Staff small by traditional measures --parcels per staff about 50% higher than national norms •Staff highly productive but overly stretched ALMY, GLOUDEMANS, JACOBS & DENNE Property Taxation and Assessment Consultants Recommendations New CAMA System •Complete sketching and data conversion to the new system as soon as possible •Maintain all income and sales data in the new system (versus spreadsheets) •Provide appraisal staff direct access to data (rather than submission of requests to ComIT) ALMY, GLOUDEMANS, JACOBS & DENNE Property Taxation and Assessment Consultants Recommendations Valuation Methods •Make greater use of third party analytical tools (statistical and GIS software) --will require additional training •Use sales over a longer time period to expand samples and permit more valuation adjustments --will require that sales prices be time-trended •Consider a number of additional technical refinements (see report) ALMY, GLOUDEMANS, JACOBS & DENNE Property Taxation and Assessment Consultants Other Recommendations •Initiate a sales confirmation mailer and seek a statewide sales disclosure form •Add at least 1 and preferably 2 commercial appraisers with data analysis skills •Implement modern imaging software --digital photos of all properties --oblique aerial photos (possibly with change detection capabilities) ALMY, GLOUDEMANS, JACOBS & DENNE Property Taxation and Assessment Consultants Conclusions •City has a strong commercial assessment program (but staff is stretched too thin) •The new CAMA system was needed and should be a substantial improvement •Additional opportunities for improvement exist, esp. in leveraging new software/technologies •We will review residential system in fall ALMY, GLOUDEMANS, JACOBS & DENNE Property Taxation and Assessment Consultants