Assessor's Office had busy, productive year

Everyone at the Assessor's Office, which includes the Motor Vehicle Department, want to wish you and yours a very happy, safe, healthy and prosperous 2009.

We had a very busy and productive 2008 and we want to keep you up to date on what we have been able to do this last year (in no order of importance)

n Thanks to the cooperation of the Selkirk Association of Realtors we were able to generate more accurate and fair assessments. We have more than 44,000 parcels in the county that we assess and we only had 124 people file appeals to the Board of Equalization (some citizens had more than one parcel but still only 124 people appealing). That compares with more than 5,000 in 2006 and 400 in 2007.

n Our staffing has stabilized and we are all getting more experience, training and education, which will make us even more productive and accurate in the future.

n We are operating with the same number of staff people that were here when I took office, even though we have added about 2,500 additional parcels to the rolls in the last two years. Our operating budget is roughly the same as it was three years ago. Salaries, which are set in the budgeting process, have increased somewhat but the staff size has not.

n We were able to put $75,096,404 of new value on the rolls in 2008 by assessing new homes and new lot divisions. I have dedicated one full-time employee to do nothing but assess new construction and the other appraisers also do that when time permits. It is our goal to make sure everyone pays their fair share, which will reduce everyone's tax burden.

n Through the efforts of two of our staff people (who took this on as a new duty) and the Treasurer's  Office, we have begun an audit of the homeowner's exemptions. So far we have billed more than $111,000 in back taxes to people who did not qualify. This is time consuming and is an extra duty so it will take a while to complete but we can go back seven years to collect on these exemptions when we find them.

n We are in the first year of a five year program to get all parcels on the ProVal computer system. We put properties on as we visit 20 percent of the county each year. Our Commercial Department has been using the system for a number of years and we are now bringing all other classes of property on the system. What we expect to do is increase our efficiency and accuracy in assessing.

Thank you for your support this last year and we will continue to serve the public to the best of our abilities.