Lane County Budget Committee May 5, Mike Cowles. Lane County Assessor

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1 Lane County Budget Committee May 5, 2016 Mike Cowles Lane County Assessor

2 Overview of Critical Services To appraise property, to calculate, collect and distribute taxes and to provide related information to the public, in a manner that merits the highest degree of confidence in our integrity, efficiency and fairness. We are a broad service organization, mandated by the Oregon Constitution and Oregon law, which collects revenue for 83 local governments, schools and special districts that provide essential public services for the citizens of Lane County.

3 Taxing Districts The Lane County Assessor collects property tax on behalf of 83 separate taxing districts including cities, schools, education service districts, water districts, rural fire districts, urban renewal districts; and parks and recreation, library and ambulance districts Cities School Districts Fire Districts Other Districts Values by Property Type

4 Proposed Budget Department of Assessment & Taxation Budget: $6,169,928 Staff: 46 FTE ***FY Notes Transfer 1.0 FTE to IS Appraisal loss 5 FTE Prop & Tax Mgmt loss 7 FTE Cut materials budget Appraisal 15 Appraisers 1 Sales Data Analyst 1 Supervisor 1 Manager 39% Administration 1 Dept Director 1 Admin Support Spec 11% Prop & Tax Mgmt 14 Tax Acct & Special Programs 4 Cartography 6 Accounting 1 Supervisor 1 Senior Manager 50%

5 Assessment and Taxation supports Lane County s strategic plan by ensuring that property tax revenues are billed and collected timely for use by the county in supporting the goals set forth in the plan.

6 Significant Constraints Due to FY Assessment and Taxation budget cuts, A&T s ability to manage the work is being closely monitored by the Department of Revenue for compliance with CAFFA grant and state appraisal standards. We will continue to maintain the highest standard of work with the limited resources that we have CAFFA funds were down for and are estimated to continue declining for Continue to build a reserve fund for replacing our Assessment and Taxation software as it nears its end of product service life (3-5 years). Retirements of long term staff in key areas of A&T that occurred during FY will have a substantial impact on the department s ability to keep up with demands

7 Significant Constraints Continued As the economy improves, we are seeing an increase in building permits, sales, and segregation and merger activity. The uptick in market activity will increase workload-pressure on the staff The project for the discovery of additional business personal property has resulted in additional work for staff already working at full capacity Our ability to maintain the new Appraisal neighborhood models with an updated land study is at risk due to our current staff shortage Our appraisal inventory is severely out of date. Many properties have not been physically inspected for over 20 years Appeals New Laws

8 CAFFA All County Certified Expenditures TOTAL EXPENDITURES CERTIFIED ACCOUNTS County $/Account Wheeler $349,628 2,728 $ Gilliam $493,143 4,249 $ Sherman $368,668 3,704 $ Morrow $788,929 8,676 $ Harney $968,371 11,302 $ Hood River $1,000,717 14,268 $ Tillamook $2,236,929 32,066 $ Jefferson $960,471 13,907 $ Grant $652,010 9,549 $ Union $1,052,519 16,613 $ Columbia $1,863,417 29,696 $ Crook $1,124,986 19,424 $ Baker $992,648 17,565 $ Wallowa $531,481 9,609 $ Multnomah $19,566, ,126 $ Linn $3,163,339 59,305 $ Wasco $1,149,075 21,620 $ Umatilla $2,217,939 41,737 $ Benton $2,087,361 40,596 $ Yamhill $2,376,591 46,279 $ Deschutes $5,448, ,371 $ Clatsop $1,812,726 37,270 $ Polk $1,745,436 35,921 $ Marion $6,322, ,855 $ Clackamas $7,957, ,693 $ Washington $10,330, ,423 $ Lincoln $2,695,394 64,775 $ Jackson $4,490, ,050 $ Lake $745,210 18,807 $ Malheur $894,006 22,649 $ Coos $1,800,852 50,018 $ Josephine $1,865,252 52,648 $ Klamath $2,631,121 74,357 $ Curry $872,107 24,690 $ Lane $6,283, ,717 $ Douglas $2,823,909 96,337 $ ,663,799 2,175,616 Lane County is 2 nd Lowest Expenditure/Account Statewide

9 Recent Successes Certified a $478 million tax roll on October 5, 2015 Mailed approximately 177,000 statements for Achieved 100% of Real Market Value for all accounts as required by law and reported in the Assessor s Annual Ratio Study filed timely with the Department Revenue All timely November payments were processed by November 27, 2015 Distributed collected tax revenue in a timely manner to 83 service districts Provided public information to over 23,894 customers via telephone, 3,802 in person, and 250,233 website hits in 2015 Processed 13,845 deed transfers in 2015

10 Major Changes Consolidation of Assessment & Taxation to one level in the Public Service Building resulting in efficiencies and enhanced communication Completion of the District #1 pilot program designed for creating Assessment and Taxation service enhancements and governmental efficiencies Implemented service recapture charges to assist in the funding of Assessment and Taxation s vital services. Yearly review of charges. Focusing on our regional partners (taxing districts) for shared resources and efficiencies Focusing on interdepartmental shared resources that can further enhance service levels and find efficiencies Refocusing Appraisal resources to begin reappraisal of dated inventory

11 Completed Area Assessment and Taxation Consolidation

12 Summary Property tax revenues are currently maximized under the current law, absent an aggressive reappraisal effort Prior year reductions in assessor staff makes any significant enhanced effort to increase tax revenues very difficult The focus is on getting the current tax roll finished by state deadline and statements mailed out on time Property tax will continue to provide relatively stable funding base to the General Fund

13 Questions?