Assessor’s Office Needs Technology To Fix Problems Consultant Says Employees Also Need To Have Freer Rein

Spokane County must invest in technology and give employees freer rein if it wants to pull the assessor’s office out of the bureaucratic Dark Ages, a state consultant said Thursday.

Rich Baird, project manager for the Department of Revenue, unveiled 57 recommendations in just two small areas - tax exemptions and personal property - of the assessor’s operation.

He will detail his major findings in late spring.

“Automation is absolutely crucial to move us forward and get past these problems,” Baird told county commissioners.

“The real issue is everyone paying their fair share,” he said.

Assessor Charlene Cooney and her staff have been buried in criticism since inaccurate appraisals forced her office to slash values by more than $200 million. Consequently, taxing districts lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in expected revenues.

This year’s tax notices are being mailed to property owners several weeks late. And there continues to be a huge backlog of segregations - subdivided property that must be assigned parcel numbers and values. Until that happens, local governments are being shortchanged on tax revenues.

“I think (the recommendations) will help immensely - as long as we get the automation and tools necessary,” Cooney said.

Baird offered to help the assessor’s office last summer under a maximum $67,000 contract funded equally by the state and county.

He said staff members should be better planners, organizers, communicators and managers and be allowed to take risks without penalty in their search for answers.

“Ultimately, it is people who will make the difference,” he said.

Most of Baird’s preliminary recommendations released Thursday deal with tax exemptions awarded to senior citizens and the disabled as well as non-profit organizations, governments and owners of historic property.

Two employees now handle what Baird calls the impossible task of tracking exemptions and ensuring people deserve them.

He recommends devoting those two employees to exemptions for senior citizens and the disabled. The other exemptions should be handled by the appraisal section, he said.

Baird also stresses better communication to heal the “fairly strained relationship” with the treasurer’s office, which collects property taxes.

He compares the assessor’s office with a supertanker with a small rudder: Changing directions will be a slow process.

Commissioners could help, Baird said, by paying for new databases and the personal computers to run them.

That angered commission Chairman Phil Harris, who wants assurances that employees are computer-literate before buying them new equipment.

While the assessor’s employees answer to Cooney, an elected official, the county commissioners are responsible for the overall budget.

Harris then dropped a bombshell by suggesting property subdivisions - segregations - be taken out of the assessor’s office and turned over to the Planning Department in Public Works.

Cooney said that’s unheard of, that segregations are an art of their own.

“It may be complex and complicated,” Harris barked, “but damn it, Charlene, every county in the state is doing segregations” except Spokane County.

Cooney said Spokane County is the only Washington county tying its segregations to a sophisticated, computerized mapping system.

Cooney acknowledged there are problems in her office but said they are institutional in nature and have plagued past assessors.

“I just want to leave a legacy that when someone else comes in, they can just carry on with the daily business and the new stuff coming down from the Legislature and not have to deal with the excess baggage of the past.

“I want it cleaned up in every area. The staff does, too,” Cooney said. “They don’t like failures.”

, DataTimes