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SL 362 Project Update
Refunds and Discoveries
Presented to Mecklenburg Board of
County Commissioners
July 1, 2014
Proverb for the Day
Juggling Chainsaws is not a long-term
professional career option……..
– Ken Joyner
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MecklenburgCountyNC.gov
Juggling Chainsaws is not a longterm career
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MecklenburgCountyNC.gov
CAMA/Appraisal is a perfect science?
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MecklenburgCountyNC.gov
Additional Proverb for the Day
This stuff is really hard….
– Ken Joyner
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MecklenburgCountyNC.gov
SL 362 Revaluation Review Project
 What is SL 362?
 Enacted in July 2013
 Section 1 identifies the counties that are
required to follow SL 362
 Section 2 identifies the requirements of
SL 362
• (i) Conduct a reappraisal within 18
months
• (ii) have a qualified appraisal
company conduct a review of all
values in the county by neighborhood
 Option chosen by Mecklenburg County
 (ii) Pearson Appraisal Services
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SL 362 Revaluation Review Project
Refunds
 SL 362, Section 2 (1) Adj. to parcels with
errors that resulted in the parcels having a
significantly overstated value
 Refunds for SL362
 Statutory changes
 Software changes
 Procedural changes
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SL 362 Revaluation Review Project
Refunds
 SL 362, Section 2 (1) Adj. to parcels with
errors that resulted in the parcels having a
significantly overstated value
 Process Timeline
 After BOCC approval, notices are mailed
 30 days to appeal (we allow some extra
time for mail to arrive)
 If no appeal, refund process begins (add
’l 30 – 45 days)
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SL 362 Revaluation Review Project
Refunds
 Who gets the refund?
 The owner of record on the date the taxes are paid.
 What is the interest rate paid on the refunds?
 5%
 How many have been mailed to date?
 As of September 24th, 83,762
 How many refunds have been generated by SL 362 to date?
 As of September 24th there are 161,530
 Historical refunds counts (annually)
 2010-11
 2011-12
 2012-13
 2013-14 (SL 362 only to date)
630
5,568
5,406
161,530
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SL 362 Revaluation Review Project
Refunds
 What is the total amount refunded to date?
 As of September 24th, $9,162,391.12 including interest
 What is the total amount of refunds remaining?
 As of September 24th, $8,673,148.95 including interest
Month
Approved
October 2013
November 2013
December 2013
January 2014
February 2014
March 2014
April 2014
May 2014
June 2014
July 2014
August 2014
September 2014
Totals
Total
195
6,063
3,745
13,882
13,503
10,441
16,253
16,154
19,021
21,150
20,362
20,761
161,530
Processed
195
6,050
3,554
11,488
11,360
7,703
9,437
10,619
11,883
11,454
83,743
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SL 362 Revaluation Review Project
Refunds
 Automation process beginning to catch up
with the project needs
 As of Sept 24th CAO has processed 84% of
the refunds
Refunds Processed
Jan - April 21
April 22 - June 13
June 14 - June 27
June 28 - Sept 24
Total
5,599
16,882
19,264
41,998
Total
83,743
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SL 362 Revaluation Review Project
Discoveries
 SL 362, Section 2 (2) Adj. to parcels with
errors that resulted in the parcels having a
significantly understated value
 Discoveries for SL362
 Statutory changes
 Software changes
 Procedural changes
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SL 362 Revaluation Review Project
Discoveries
 How many discovery bills have been
generated by SL 362?
 As of September 24th, 34,073
 What is the dollar amount of discovery bills?
 The total of all discovery bills to date is estimated
at over $5,000,000
 Note that there is no penalty included on
discovery bills for the 2011-2014 years
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SL 362 Revaluation Review Project
Discoveries
 Who is responsible for the discovery bills?
 Current owner of record
 Why the current owner?
 NCGS 105-312 (d) directs the assessor to mail to
current owner. Effectively it is because the tax
lien goes with the property.
 Like refunds the volume of discovery bills is a
significant increase over previous years.
 Last year we did 1,373 discoveries
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SL 362 Revaluation Review Project
Appeals
BER and PTC Issues
 PTC appeals in 2013 – over 2,300 parcels
 PTC appeals in 2014 – 124 parcels remaining (now
under 100 cases)
 BER appeals for SL362 – over 1,863 to date
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SL 362 Revaluation Review Project
Appeals
Financial Issues
 Appeals were not included in the original scope of
work for Pearson Appraisal Services
 Original contract is for $3,892,000
 We have added $ to the contract to pay for the
appeals
 Based upon PTC cases worked (approx. 2,000),
current appeals (1,863 unique parcels), and
estimates for the remainder of the project
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SL 362 Revaluation Review Project
Lessons Learned
REAPPRAISAL
 Field Canvassing is important
 2011 Reappraisal – Publically discussed that it had been
17 years since last visited
 You must physically walk your properties to ensure
accuracy
 IAAO Standards state once every six years
 Don’t rely items that are not completed
 Appeals module wasn’t ready
 Communication is crucial
 No response speaks volumes, just not the message you
want conveyed
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SL 362 Revaluation Review Project
Lessons Learned
SESSION LAW 2013-362
 No one cares that it hasn’t ever been done before
 Refunds
 Start-up periods
 Everyone wants their property to be completed early in the
process
 18 month project with18 monthly reports
 Communication is crucial
 Citizens
 Elected Officials
 County Administration
 Media
 Contractor
 CAMA/Software provider
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SL 362 Revaluation Review Project
Lessons Learned
SESSION LAW 2013-362
 Multiple Years bring on new issues and problems
 Data Entry/Notices
 Refunds
 Appeals
 Workflow/Business Processes are going to change
 Think about the process prior to starting
 Determine who is going to handle what processes
 Include you CAMA/software provider
 Refunds
 Manage expectations
 Proactively work with Legislature on minimum refund
amount
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SL 362 Revaluation Review Project
Lessons Learned
SESSION LAW 2013-362
 Define role and chain of command with the contractor
 You do not want line staff making decisions on the fly
 Space was a big issue for us
 40-50 contractor’s for 18+ months
 Know the contract and who is responsible for each item
 Cost can escalate quickly
 You will not think of everything
 Stay ready for change
 If it happens once it will happen again
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