SL 362 Project Update Refunds and Discoveries Presented to Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners...

SL 362 Project UpdateRefunds and Discoveries

Presented to Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners

July 1, 2014

MecklenburgCountyNC.gov

Proverb for the Day

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Juggling Chainsaws is not a long-term career

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CAMA/Appraisal is a perfect science?

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Additional Proverb for the Day

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MecklenburgCountyNC.gov 6

SL 362 Revaluation Review ProjectSL 362 Revaluation Review Project

What is SL 362? Enacted in July 2013 Section 1 identifies the counties that are

required to follow SL 362 Section 2 identifies the requirements of

SL 362• (i) Conduct a reappraisal within 18

months • (ii) have a qualified appraisal

company conduct a review of all values in the county by neighborhood

Option chosen by Mecklenburg County (ii) Pearson Appraisal Services


SL 362 Revaluation Review ProjectRefunds


SL 362, Section 2 (1) Adj. to parcels with errors that resulted in the parcels having a significantly overstated value

Refunds for SL362 Statutory changes Software changes Procedural changes




SL 362, Section 2 (1) Adj. to parcels with errors that resulted in the parcels having a significantly overstated value

Process Timeline After BOCC approval, notices are mailed 30 days to appeal (we allow some extra

time for mail to arrive) If no appeal, refund process begins (add

’l 30 – 45 days)




Who gets the refund? The owner of record on the date the taxes are paid.

What is the interest rate paid on the refunds? 5%

How many have been mailed to date? As of September 24th, 83,762

How many refunds have been generated by SL 362 to date? As of September 24th there are 161,530

Historical refunds counts (annually) 2010-11 630 2011-12 5,568 2012-13 5,406 2013-14 (SL 362 only to date) 161,530




What is the total amount refunded to date? As of September 24th, $9,162,391.12 including interest

What is the total amount of refunds remaining? As of September 24th, $8,673,148.95 including interest

Month Approved

Total Processed

October 2013 195 195November 2013 6,063 6,050December 2013 3,745 3,554January 2014 13,882 11,488February 2014 13,503 11,360March 2014 10,441 7,703April 2014 16,253 9,437May 2014 16,154 10,619June 2014 19,021 11,883July 2014 21,150 11,454August 2014 20,362 September 2014 20,761 Totals 161,530 83,743




Refunds Processed TotalJan - April 21 5,599April 22 - June 13 16,882June 14 - June 27 19,264June 28 - Sept 24 41,998

Total 83,743

Automation process beginning to catch up with the project needs

As of Sept 24th CAO has processed 84% of the refunds


SL 362 Revaluation Review ProjectDiscoveries


SL 362, Section 2 (2) Adj. to parcels with errors that resulted in the parcels having a significantly understated value

Discoveries for SL362 Statutory changes Software changes Procedural changes




How many discovery bills have been generated by SL 362? As of September 24th, 34,073

What is the dollar amount of discovery bills? The total of all discovery bills to date is estimated

at over $5,000,000 Note that there is no penalty included on

discovery bills for the 2011-2014 years




Who is responsible for the discovery bills? Current owner of record

Why the current owner? NCGS 105-312 (d) directs the assessor to mail to

current owner. Effectively it is because the tax lien goes with the property.

Like refunds the volume of discovery bills is a significant increase over previous years. Last year we did 1,373 discoveries


SL 362 Revaluation Review ProjectAppeals


BER and PTC Issues

PTC appeals in 2013 – over 2,300 parcelsPTC appeals in 2014 – 124 parcels remaining (now under 100 cases)BER appeals for SL362 – over 1,863 to date




Financial Issues

Appeals were not included in the original scope of work for Pearson Appraisal ServicesOriginal contract is for $3,892,000We have added $ to the contract to pay for the appeals

Based upon PTC cases worked (approx. 2,000), current appeals (1,863 unique parcels), and estimates for the remainder of the project


SL 362 Revaluation Review ProjectLessons Learned


REAPPRAISAL

Field Canvassing is important 2011 Reappraisal – Publically discussed that it had been

17 years since last visited You must physically walk your properties to ensure

accuracy IAAO Standards state once every six years

Don’t rely items that are not completed Appeals module wasn’t ready

Communication is crucial No response speaks volumes, just not the message you

want conveyed




SESSION LAW 2013-362

No one cares that it hasn’t ever been done before Refunds Start-up periods

Everyone wants their property to be completed early in the process

18 month project with18 monthly reportsCommunication is crucial

Citizens Elected Officials County Administration Media Contractor CAMA/Software provider





Multiple Years bring on new issues and problems Data Entry/Notices Refunds Appeals

Workflow/Business Processes are going to change Think about the process prior to starting Determine who is going to handle what processes Include you CAMA/software provider

Refunds Manage expectations Proactively work with Legislature on minimum refund

amount





Define role and chain of command with the contractor You do not want line staff making decisions on the fly

Space was a big issue for us 40-50 contractor’s for 18+ months

Know the contract and who is responsible for each item Cost can escalate quickly

You will not think of everything Stay ready for change If it happens once it will happen again

SL 362 Project Update Refunds and Discoveries Presented to Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners...

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