Want Fair and Equitable Assessment? Consider Electing New Generation of Assessors!

Why?

Here are the reasons: 

1. Independently Elected Assessors will be Free from City Mayor or County Executive's Political Agenda -- Until very recently, Tax Rolls used to be generally regressive, favoring the rich at the expense of the middle class, meaning the middle class used to subsidize - often heavily - the wealthy homeowners. Now with the introduction of the SALT Cap, the wealthy homeowners are not happy campers anymore. Therefore, it is high time to return to the independently Elected Assessors replacing the hand-picked political appointments. Municipal political positions could stoop to shallow levels. Since "home" comprises the single most significant financial investment for the vast majority of taxpayers, they need to regain control of property assessment and, in turn, their property taxes. Electing Mayor/County Executive must be mutually exclusive (de-coupling Administration and Assessment), so they are neither armed with the power of assessment nor bogged down by its never-ending complexities.    

2. Elected Assessors will be Enticed to Undertake Forward-looking Experiments rather than just Vaguely Meeting some Antiquated Industry Guidelines -- Unfortunately, as long as some antiquated industry guidelines are met, the Roll gets published, with the Review Board picking up the fall-outs from there. This feedback loop (feeding off each other) perennially continues while the taxpayers are left in the lurch. Meanwhile, the current Administration continues to point the finger at the former Mayor/County Executive of slashing the human resources budget. A visionary and gutsy Elected Assessor would look at such scenarios positively and explore forward-looking solutions instead of more government employees. Taxpayers need a real solution to this age-old challenge. Independent and innovative leadership could be the step in the right direction. The old-age experiment of more government employees has not worked.

3. The New World of Artificial Intelligence could provide the Solution the Assessment Industry has been Waiting for -- if the new generation Elected Assessors are keen on having this age-old challenge solved, they should seriously consider the world of AI solutions. Therefore, an Elected Assessor needs to be someone with a background in solving complex problems, perhaps without assessing or Valuing whatsoever. A brilliant problem-solving mind will quickly realize the need for AI/Robotics technology in getting arms around this challenge. Such reasons would not buy into the idea of the old-fashioned statistical modeling with high "under-the-surface" error rates. For example, an AI-based data collection and data update application will do a far better job than competing human judgment (despite the homogeneous definitions and guidelines).    

4. The New Generation of Elected Assessors will help Change the Existing Guidelines, which have become vastly Antiquated -- The existing valuation modeling (CAMA) guidelines revolve around the multiple regression models. That modeling environment provided an excellent start to the industry, but, over the years, the over-dependence on the modeling stats to meet and exceed the industry guidelines often paved the way for significantly less surgical dissection and analysis of the population data, resulting in sizable appeals, especially in urban jurisdictions with a high degree of heterogeneous housing stock, thus calling into question the effectiveness of the overall Roll. A new generation of Elected Assessors with advanced quantitative and problem-solving backgrounds would be needed to introduce rules leading to meaningful guidelines.

5. Elected Assessors would be more Amenable to FOIA/FOIL Requests on Automated Valuation Models and Formulas -- In the event of an error-filled Roll, the Assessors who are part of the ruling Administration would be less than forthcoming to disclose their models and formulas, whether internally developed or by their favorite consultants, to the public. The new generation of Elected Assessors would be more than happy to make them public, emphatically citing the progress that has been made and highlighting the pipeline that is being worked on, even if it involves taking on some short-term pain to achieve significant long-term gain (i.e., to solve the age-old challenge). They might even encourage a series of brain-storming debates with local experts to factor their inputs into the process. Playing hide-and-seek game with the taxpayers is antagonistic to the fortitude of public service. 

6. Elected Assessors will Meaningfully Evaluate Cost Benefits of Outsourcing certain Functions and Services vis-a-vis Conventional New Hires, Consultants and Vendors -- The new generation of Elected Assessors will bring a wealth of expertise in making sound business decisions, including BPOs, KPOs, etc. Their choices will conform to the election manifesto that put them in the office in the first place given their independent status (off of the ruling Administration). The knowledge of the make-shift internal modelers (from assessing/data collection to quantitative modeling) and the expertise the industry's leading consultants and vendors bring are perhaps backward-bending, forcing them to consider other more forward-looking alternatives like hiring AI Engineers, outsourcing to AI firms, retaining Public Relations firms for outreach, etc. The alternative is the status quo, with wishful thinking (will fix the next Roll). 

7. Elected Assessor's Vision will help many Veterans to leave yielding place to the New -- Tennyson's immortal poem may ring a bell again, "The old order changeth yielding place to new And God fulfills himself in many ways Lest one good custom should corrupt the world." As the new vision anchors, many veterans unwilling or unable to keep pace with the changes might retire, freeing up significant budget dollars for the modern workforce, technology, and futuristic services. Since the veterans are some of the highest-paid employees, the savings from their departure could be significant. Perhaps, the new generation of Assessors' election might finally work as the catalyst or the leading indicator of change for the other interacting agencies as well, proving how forward-looking vision backed by disruptive business models could bring about system-wide changes.   

8. Elected Assessors might take a fresh look at the existing Data Warehousing and Modeling -- If only 5-10% of the data undergoes annual changes, the question one should ask: Is it worthwhile to spend millions of taxpayer dollars on warehousing the static data or is it prudent to switch to a significantly scaled-down data warehouse? A straight-forward AI model based on just size and location could be more effective than a regression-based Juggernaut requiring a whole host of modelers applying personal judgment to improve model stats. Therefore, future data warehousing should be tied to future valuation modeling, eliminating the need for any wasteful data. If a house has two full baths, who cares about keeping track of the number of bath fixtures? Just an extravagant piece of data and costly warehousing! Therefore, the new generation of Elected Assessors would be expected to cut to the chase as to the future data requirements, saving a ton on wasteful data collection, inspection, and warehousing.   

9. Appeals Review Assessor must also be Elected -- Almost all major jurisdictions have Appeals Review agencies (under various names) headed by Commissioners, etc., usually hand-picked by the ruling Administration. While this separation (generally by the Charter) might be useful, their total independence is more critical to effectively serving the taxpayers. Therefore, to make the system politics-free, taxpayers must have "Elected" Review Assessors as well. While electing the Review Assessor, taxpayers should zero in on the candidates with significant Quality Control/Assurance expertise. Of course, independence comes with a financial cost, meaning an independent apparatus has to be maintained. Since the review window is short-lived (seasonal), employees could be leased to avoid employing them during the off-peak season, incurring unnecessary legacy costs.    

There is no certainty that an Elected Assessor or Review Assessor would always pan out; then again, the power remains with the people.

Of course, the only permanent solution to this perennial problem is to gradually replace property taxes with middle-class friendly progressive consumption taxes (see the link below). 

-Sid Som, MBA, MIM
President, Homequant, Inc.
homequant@gmil.com             

Replacing Property Taxes with Middle-Class friendly Progressive Consumption Taxes