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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 04111995 - IO.1 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS CQntra r' INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE :F- �►l .' Costa FROM: x��.:.__..... 4a County DATE: April 3, 1995 SUBJECT: REPORT ON MEETING WITH THE COUNTY ASSESSOR REGARDING THE PERFORMANCE, ACCOMPLISHMENTS, ISSUES AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS OF HIS DEPARTMENT SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATION: ACCEPT this report from the Internal Operations Committee on its meeting with the County Assessor. BACKGROUND: On June 28, 1994, the Board of Supervisors, at the request of Supervisor DeSaulnier, referred to the Internal Operations Committee a request to develop a procedure which would allow the Internal Operations Committee to meet with each Department Head during the year and report on the Department' s activities . A number of Department Heads were heard in 1994 . On December 13, 1994, the Board of Supervisors referred this item to the 1995 Internal Operations Committee for the purpose of hearing from the remaining Department Heads . On April 3, 1995, we had the opportunity to meet with the County Assessor, Gus Kramer. Mr. Kramer presented the attached report to us and reviewed it with our Committee. Mr. Kramer noted particularly the enormous growth in the workload with which his staff is faced, particularly in the area of assessment appeals . Some 8,000 appeals have been filed in the past year. Mr. Kramer noted the improvements he has made in making his Department accessible to the public by opening the office again during the lunch hour. He hopes eventually to staff the office between 4 : 00 P.M. and 5 : 00 P.M. , something which is not now possible with the available staff. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE -OTHER SIGNATURE(S): ACTION OF BOARD ON April 1 1 , 1995 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE UNANIMOUS(ABSENT ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS �ON-THE DATE SHOWN. ATTESTED ` tt! ( I - � 9 1 Contact: PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF cc: County Administrator SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR County Assessor BY DEPUTY -2- Mr. Kramer also noted that as the real estate market improves, there will be additional workload burdens on his staff since they must go back annually and reassess properties where the assessment has been reduced through an appeal . Mr. Kramer' s report notes that the staff has been reduced by 16% over the past five years . Supervisor DeSaulnier indicated interest in the idea of a taxpayer advocate who could work with taxpayers in resolving problems . This position could be staffed by a combination of a volunteer and a County employee. A taxpayer advocate could assist in reducing the number of appeals and in addition provide more public service to the citizens of the County. We would like Mr. Kramer to keep us advised of progress in this area. We appreciate the difficult and at times unpopular job the County Assessor has and the professional manner in which he and his staff carry out their responsibilities . ASSESSOR ' S OFFICE March 1, 1995 1. OVERVIEW The-purpose of the Assessor's Office is to produce a timely roll of all property subject to local assessment, administer legally permissible exemptions, develop and maintain a set of current maps delineating property ownerships, defend assessments as required before an appellate body and provide information and service to the public as needed. The Assessor's Office is mandated to render all functions that are currently being performed. The basic budget and staff for the department is distributed in the following manner: Program Expenditures Net County Cost Staff Appraisal $3,949,479 $3, 540, 637 53 Business 967, 219 939, 352 13 Support Services 2,498, 651 2, 239,994 53 Administrative Services 644 ,813 578 . 063 7 TOTAL $8, 060, 165 $7,225,790 126 Appraisal - Ensure that all secured real and personal property within the County has been accurately valued and entered on the regular and supplemental assessment rolls. Business - Ensure that all business personal property within the County has been accurately reported and valued and values have been entered on the regular and supplemental assessment rolls. Support Services - Enroll all valid exemptions on the regular and supplemental local assessment rolls, provide data entry and drafting services to the department, review policies and procedures, and make changes where necessary, and provide public service to agencies, private organizations and to the general public. Administrative Services - Establish and administer policies relative to department operations and provide administrative guidelines for carrying out these policies. 1 The following describes the staff by affirmative action category: Male Female Total White 54 48 102 African American 2 6 8 Hispanic 2 6 8 Asian 1 0 1 Filipino 3 2 5 American Indian 0 2 2 126 2. RESOURCES The Assessor's Office accomplishes its functions through the use of fees for parcel maps and assessment data, Property Tax Administration Funds, and the General fund. Normally all work is completed with permanent staff supplemented with seasonal clerical staff. However, when dealing with appeals and valuation of unique properties we are required to contract for specialized expertise. We hope to reduce this requirement by providing additional training for our staff. Automation has and continues to play an important role in allowing the office to improve production so more work can be accomplished with fewer staff resources. Over the last five years the Assessor's staff has been reduced over 16% from 151 to 126. The office utilizes a combination of the county mainframe computer, office Local Area Network (LAN) , and Personal Computers to accomplish its mission. The department is continually trying improve its affirmative action representation. This last year the department hired nine new employees five of which were women and ethnic minorities. The department continues to discourage the indiscriminate use of sick leave. Over the last three years we have continued to reduce the total number of sick leave hours used and the average used per employee. Total Hours per Year Hours Employee 1992 8, 544 .5 67.8 1993 7, 733 .7 64 .4 1994 7, 657.7 62. 3 The following information breaks-down the department's resources by functional area. 2 APPRAISAL DIVISION Automation The division recently acquired three additional Personal Computers to assist the appraiser in completing the more complex appraisals. The use of personal computers and the LIS system are key elements in our ability to accomplish more work with reduced staffing. Financial Resources All divisions of the Assessor's office share in the production of revenues. We allocate revenues to each division based upon their level of expenditures. Gross Expenditures $3,949,480 Fees 118, 078 Property Tax Administration 290,766 General Fund 3, 540, 636 PERSONNEL RESOURCES The following describes the fifty-three staff working in the Appraisal division by job classification: 2 Chief, Valuation 8 Supervising Appraisers 22 Associate Appraisers 16 Assistant Appraisers 5 Junior Appraisers 3 BUSINESS DIVISION Automation The division recently acquired two laptop Personal Computers and developed software to assist the auditors in completing local and out of state audits. The use of personal computers and the BPS system are key elements in our ability to accomplish more work with reduced staffing. Financial Resources All divisions of the Assessor's office share in the production of revenues. We allocate revenues to each division based upon their level of expenditures. Gross Expenditures $967,220 Fees 28,917 Property Tax Administration 71, 208 General Fund 867, 095 PERSONNEL RESOURCES The following describes the thirteen staff working in the Business division by job classification: 2 Supervising Auditor Appraisers 1 Associate Appraiser 5 Senior Auditors 5 Auditor Appraiser II 4 SUPPORT SERVICES Automation The division has been actively using Personal Computers to assist the auditors and appraisers and they are part of the reason for the increased productivity of the audit and appraisal staff. We recently installed a Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) system and are in the process of converting our parcel maps into digitized formats. This is a labor intensive process, but the system will provide many dividends in the future. Financial Resources All divisions of the Assessor's office share in the production of revenues. We allocate revenues to each division based upon their level of expenditures. Gross Expenditures $2,498, 651 Fees 74,702 Property Tax Administration 183,954 General Fund 2,239,995 PERSONNEL RESOURCES The following describes the fifty-three staff working in the Support Services division by job classification: 1 Drafting Services Coordinator 4 Senior Drafters 1 Storekeeper 4 Supervising Assessment Clerks 4 Specialist Level Clerks 8 Senior Level Clerks 28 Experienced Level Clerks 3 Data Entry Operator II 5 ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES Automation The division is in the process of installing a new Server for our Local Area Network (LAN) that links our two offices and the Clerk of the Board. The division is also coordinating the installation of fibre optic cabling to allow more work stations to be online to our database and to improve the speed of processing data. This new cabling will also allow high speed access to the County's Wide Area Network (WAN) . This division continues to develop and implement new procedures to improve the overall production of the office. Financial Resources All divisions of the Assessor's office share in the production of revenues. We allocate revenues to each division based upon their level of expenditures. Gross Expenditures $664,814 Fees 19,278 Property Tax Administration 47, 472 General Fund 578, 064 PERSONNEL RESOURCES The following describes the seven staff working in the Administrative Services division by job classification: 1 Assessor 2 Assistant Assessors 1 Chief Standards 1 Clerical Staff Manager 1 Executive Secretary 1 Advanced Level Secretary 6 3. CLIENT PROFILE The Assessor's office serves all the residents of Contra Costa County by ensuring fair and accurate assessment of property in the County. This includes all property subject to local assessment and the application of all permissible exemptions. This necessitates dealing with the single family residence as well as major commercial and industrial property owners. 7 4. PERFORMANCE INDICATORS OUTCOMES Changes had to be implemented to offset the budget reductions the department has been required to absorb in the past few years. A 16% reduction in staff required that we become more productive through automation and changes in procedures. OBJECTIVE - The objective of our performance indicators is to monitor our success in continuing to efficiently produce an accurate and timely assessment roll. PERFORMANCE INDICATORS: 1 - The number of Building Permit Questionnaires completed by property owners: An increase ,in the number of completed Building Permit Questionnaires reduces the number of field visits needed by appraisers for new construction. Outcome - This program was very successful, in 1993 there were 3 , 889 Building Permit Questionnaires returned by property owners, in 1994 there were 5,823 Questionnaires returned, an increase of approximately 50%. As well as reducing the appraisal time required to value . this new construction, there also was a reduction in the mileage cost that would have been required to visit each site. 2 - The number of Assessor's Parcel Maps Converted to electronic format. We have installed a Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) system and the more maps we are able to convert to the new system the more we will increase the productivity of the drafting division. Outcome - The new CAD system was installed in May 1994, considerable time was required for training while at the same time continuing to keep up the current work load. The drafting staff was able to convert and draw eighty-five computerized parcel maps. This will be an ongoing project which should produce greater results in the future. 8 3 - The number of clerical and appraisal hour spent per assessment appeal: ; All hours spent on appeals reduce the . time available for appraisals. Outcome - On the average in calendar year 1993 there was over 10 hours of appraisal and clerical time spent in resolving an appeal. Due to changes in procedures and automation this figure was reduced to under 6 hours per appeal. However, these saving have barely enabled the office to stay up with last year's appeal load. Appeals, because of the loss in real estate values, are continuing to increase and becoming more of a burden to our appraisal and clerical staff. 4 - Ratio of Direct Bills to Business Property Statements. An increase in the ratio reduces the appraisal and clerical time required per assessment. Outcome - Our program to improve the ratio was implemented in 1995 and the results are starting to show. In 1994 16.4% of the business assessment notifications were by Direct Bill. In 1995 as a result of sponsored legislation we were able to increase the percentage of direct Bills to 18.5%. We are anticipating a continued increase in the number of Direct Bills and a reduction in the number of Business Property Statements. 9 5. CHALLENGES The biggest challenge to the office currently is being able to continue producing more work with a reduced and inexperienced staff. We are burdened by the continued requests for reduction in property values (Proposition 81s) due to the soft real estate market. When the economy turns around it will be a bigger challenge. We will have to annually review all of the property that has been reduced previously, review all property that has filed appeals, and handle an increased workload due to an increase in sales and new construction. 10 6. FUTURE In the near future we plan to implement a new technical classification of employee. This new class will assist the appraisal staff by removing many of the routine and repetitious tasks that don't require the professional expertise of an appraiser. This will enable us to produce more work with a less expensive class of employee and allow time for the professional staff to complete more appraisals. We anticipate that we will be able to employ 5 technical employees for the cost of 4 professional appraisers. Another future plan is to create a taxpayer advocate who could work with taxpayers in resolving problems. This position could be staffed by a combination of a volunteer and a county employee. A taxpayer advocate could assist in reducing the number of appeals and in addition provide more public service to the citizens of the County. Increasing public access to public information is a priority for the near future. In February of this year we opened our office during the lunch hour and provided public service staff to help the public. Our hope is to further expand public access via computer modems. This service would not only be considerate of the general public but accommodate the small business persons, ie. 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