Land Pricing Wizards

About the Program

Category: County Administration and Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2018

The Catawba County Revaluation staff conducts a countywide reappraisal to establish updated property values every four years. The team’s most pressing problem was the length of time it took to manually assign land values. The process of assigning values to land started two years prior to the mailing of final reappraisal value notices. A team was assembled to develop a system that would accomplish the following: reduce the time for this process down from 11 months; eliminate the keying of mathematical calculations and moving the land calculations within the computer-aided mass appraisal (CAMA) software system to lower the risk of human error and increase accuracy; and the addition of a color layer on the Geographical Information System (GIS) Tax Reappraisal Map to allow for a visual check of accuracy/uniformity to eliminate the printing of 145 27”x 36” paper maps that cover the entire county. Through the talents and problem solving skills of our team, a land coding system was developed and implemented producing an accurate and current land value within weeks instead of eleven months, reducing the chance of human calculation error, elevating taxpayer confidence in final values, and being green by eliminating the printing of numerous large paper maps.