Educators of Revaluation

About the Program

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

Year: 2016

The Catawba County Reappraisal Department conducts a full reappraisal to establish updated property values every four years. Afterwards, we must then conduct taxpayer appeals with property owners who dispute County assessed values. The formal appeals process was the main area identified that needed to be improved upon. In previous years, we used a written narrative approach to communicate how we arrived at an assessed value. Our goals were to better educate our taxpayers on the appraisal process, equip the Board of Equalization and Review (or BOER, which is responsible for hearing taxpayer appeals and determining whether to make assessed value adjustments) to make more confident decisions, and streamline the process of presentation development by staff. The County Reappraisal staff collaborated to develop and design a uniform, transparent, detailed, visual presentation of the revaluation process. After implementing this new method of presentation, taxpayers and the BOER seemed to have a better grasp on our process of assessment and even complimented the professionalism of our new presentation. Through the talents and initiative of our staff, we have done a much better job of serving and educating the taxpayers about the process of property appraisal, while increasing the efficiency of our staff.