County Assessor’s Property-Owner Education & Outreach Program

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2015

The Bernalillo County Assessor’s Office implemented the Property-Owner Education & Outreach Program to increase customer service, improve public relations and educate property-owners. The Program has three main elements: accessibility, transparency and familiarity. The program is designed to help property-owners better understand their individual property assessment and how the overall system of valuation affects property-owners. We increased customer service by allowing property owners to access vital information via a renovated Assessor website, social media and extended main office hours. In addition to uploading all Assessor forms in a writable PDF format to the website; all forms were translated into Spanish to accommodate the large Hispanic population. Furthermore, increased transparency improved public relations and instilled confidence in the Assessor’s Office by disseminating annual reports, statistical changes in valuations and other public information via the website. Outreach was conducted by holding mobile office hours at community centers and meeting with neighborhood associations as well as with industry stakeholders, such as relators and developers. As property-owners became more familiar with the system of valuation, the more effective and efficient the system operated. The greatest educational component is an “Understanding Your Notice of Value” insert, which explains –in easy to understand language and graphics– the effect of value on property taxes and provides helpful information on tax saving programs offered. Education of property owners yielded the best return on investment by reducing the amount of valuation protests filed by property-owners by 23% in the first year and an additional 13.5% the following year. Moreover, by issuing annual reports and statistical analysis electronically the Assessor’s Office more effectively communicated its impact and engaged the public. For Bernalillo County, the Assessor’s website home page is now the seventh most requested and its property search page the second most requested.