Assessing Info JUNE 17 2021

State property tax official accused of helping Colorado luxury ski resorts cut their tax bills
The deputy director of the Colorado Division of Property Taxation, a state tax official required to be a neutral arbiter, is instead advising Colorado luxury resort hotel owners about how to minimize their property taxes, according to leaders in the counties that have lost millions of dollars in revenue. Read more

How COVID-19 changed how, and where, people work and live

The coronavirus pandemic has forced those of us in the multifamily sector to reassess real estate’s time-honored location-location-location mantra. With remote work now commonplace in several businesses — a trend that promises to continue post-pandemic — it is now often a matter of relocation-relocation-relocation. Read more

Florida man accidentally buys small town’s water tower for $55,000

When business owner Bobby Read approached the Brooksville City Council about buying a municipal building at the base of the small Florida city's water tower, he didn't expect the water tower to come with it. The personal trainer intended to turn the building into a training studio. But when he went to the county property appraiser's office to get an address for his new business, the county told him he'd received much more than the building — several thousand gallons more. Read more

IAAO NEWS

+ Register TODAY to take advantage of early-bird rates at THE assessing event of the year

July 16 is the early-bird deadline to register for the in-person and virtual components of the 2021 IAAO Annual Conference, from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1 in Chicago, and nearly 500 people have signed up since registration opened just a few weeks ago. The Annual Conference is the premier platform to share successes, discover best practices, and learn about the latest research in the field of property appraisal. Participants may register online, or registration forms are available to download. More than 70 sessions will be offered at the in-person conference, and the virtual conference component will include access to a select number of education sessions, networking opportunities, exhibitors/sponsors, and more. In addition, Chicago has removed restrictions on all visitors from other states requiring vaccinations or negative COVID-19 tests. Register here

+ Conference Committee seeks Roundtable topics

The Conference Committee is looking for Roundtable topics at the upcoming IAAO Annual Conference in Chicago. Roundtables are informal discussions on pressing current topics important to IAAO members and to provide a venue to share with and learn from peers. If you have a topic you would like to see covered, please email Leann Ritter at ritter@iaao.org. At past conferences, topics have included affordable/low-income housing; broadband/5G technology; energy efficient homes; unique properties; hotel/motel valuation; open-source software; politics and the assessor’s office; rural solutions; senior housing; titles and deeds; trends in transportation; land banking; staffing issues; and collecting data with drones.

+ First winner picked in demographic campaign; update your profile for a chance at a $50 gift card

James Labish, RES, of the Kootenai County, Idaho, Assessor’s Office, is the first recipient of a $50 gift card for participating in the IAAO demographic campaign. IAAO launched the demographic data collection campaign on June 1. Members who update their profile are entered in a drawing for $50 gift cards sponsored by Tyler Technologies. The profile update includes additional information than was collected in previous years. The information will be used to assess IAAO’s membership makeup, and highlight the diversity of our global community. Update your profile.

+ Learn about the Library in our Words with Assessor game

The Friends of the IAAO Paul V. Corusy Library Trust are inviting IAAO members to a game of Words with Assessors, with a chance to win gift cards. During the contest, which runs from May to Aug. 10, a new word will be hidden on library webpages each week. Just find the words and enter them on the playing card. The first word (LIBRARY) was in a May/June F+E article, and the second and third words are now on library pages. Participants will learn more about the library and the resources it has to offer. The drawings for gift cards for those members who find the most words and complete the game board will take place the 2021 IAAO Annual Conference. Completed game cards can be brought to the conference or emailed to eichholz@iaao.org by Aug. 17.

+ Learn Excel’s most useful tips and tricks for assessing in June 29 webinar

Need to learn more about Excel and all the tips and tricks it offers? Vision Government Solutions is sponsoring a free webinar at 1:30 pm EST on June 29 to “Discover Excel’s Most Useful Assessing Tips and Tricks.” David Cornell of Cornell Consultants, and a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) will review Excel’s new charts and graphs; show how to apply logic-based conditional formatting; teach how to automate data preparation and cleaning; use Power Query, Pivot Tables, and Power Pivot Tables; and how to create custom statistical measures in Excel (coefficient of dispersion, for example). Sign up here.

+ Deadline to submit Board candidacy info is July 1

Members interested in running for the IAAO Board of Directors should submit candidate material by July 1. Check out the elections page for more information. Regular members in good standing will be able to vote electronically from Nov. 1-15, for the Regular Board Member, Associate Board member, and Officer positions.

IAAO CONNECT CORNER

+ Hot Topic: State certification

IAAO Connect members are discussing the various certification requirements and differences among U.S. states. Read more

AROUND THE INDUSTRY

+ A crash course in Ireland's property tax changes

The Department of Finance, who recently announced a revised system for calculating the tax, reckons more than a third (36%) of homeowners are facing a higher bill, just over half (53%) won’t see any change, while just over one in 10 (11%) will see a reduction in their tax. Read more

+ Ohio’s affordable housing industry ‘blindsided’ by GOP leader’s proposed property tax hikes

After a series of court battles over how to levy property taxes onto affordable housing properties, housing owners and county auditors have been slowly making their way to a negotiated solution. But that ongoing, nearly two-year discussion could all be in jeopardy thanks to a move that caught stakeholders off guard. Last week, Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, helped insert into the state budget bill a component that would significantly increase property tax valuations for subsidized housing. Read more

+ The homestead property tax exemption has saved Colorado's older homeowners millions ... but it may have an equity problem

In a time of sticker shock from property valuations and rising concern over inequity in the housing market, the two-decades-old homestead exemption stands as both a means of financial relief for many homeowners but also a tool that — in its present form — has raised questions of fairness. Read more

+ Rents on the rise as pandemic pricing disappears

The national average for rent jumped 2.3 percent from April to May, a record month-over-month growth for the third consecutive month, according to Apartment List, an online rental marketplace. The rate of rent increases has been outpacing the average rent growth for several months, and in May the national median rent officially surpassed the level that Apartment List economists would expect if the pandemic had not upended forecasting. Nationally, year-over-year rent growth was 5.4 percent from April 2020 to April 2021. Read more