Montgomery County and Tyler Verify

• Industry: County Government
• Location: Montgomery County, Ohio
• Population: 534,324
• Tyler Client Since: 1949
• Properties in 2014 Assessment Roll: 250,932
• Tyler Products Used: Tyler Verify, iasWorld^®, CLT Appraisal Services

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The Facts

Situated in Southwest Ohio across 465 square miles of land, Montgomery County is home to flourishing neighborhoods, world-class museums, thriving sports venues, fine dining, and arts and cultural festivals. Ohio law requires the county auditor to complete a reappraisal of all real property once every six years. Faced with a reappraisal deadline amid decreased tax revenues and cuts in state and local government funding, the county had to find a solution that provided efficiencies, cost savings and increased public confidence.

Key Challenges

• Streamline the assessment process to reduce labor demands, costs, and the county’s carbon footprint.
• Restore accountability, transparency, and trust with Montgomery County taxpayers.
• Improve accuracy and timeliness of the reappraisal while still completing a thorough review of property.
• Reduce direct contact between assessors and property owners.

Benefits

• Improved performance measures using digital information and timely, easy-to-understand progress reports.
• Saved at least $400,000 compared to the previous reappraisal.
• Increased property owner confidence and engagement with digital records and a public website, which created more positive feelings, opinions, and support for revaluations.
• Escalated auditor confidence by ensuring property records were accurate through validated addresses.

The Challenge

Montgomery County was preparing to execute its mandated six-year reappraisal in 2014. Because the county was hit particularly hard by the Great Recession, county tax revenues were decreased and state and local government funding was cut. This placed great strain on budgets and scrutiny on all spending decisions. Montgomery County needed to find a reappraisal solution that would be cost-effective, yet provide unparalleled accuracy and efficiency to increase public confidence. In order for the county auditor’s office to complete the reappraisal within a tight budget in a timely manner — while increasing accuracy, confidence and support — they needed the right solution and technology for streamlining the project.

Partnering with Tyler to Execute a Technology Driven Solution

That solution was Tyler Verify. First, Tyler’s CLT Appraisal Services personnel took digital images of properties from vans to update county real estate records. Door-to-door canvassing and direct contact with assessors and property owners was eliminated, which cut a costly and time-consuming activity that often received complaints.

Once the digital images were collected, Tyler’s CLT staff used Tyler Verify to authenticate the parcels and accuracy of the records in an efficient and timely manner while adhering to Ohio statute and International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) standards. The street-level images were combined with the overhead aerial images to produce a more complete understanding of every parcel. Field personnel used tablet computers, which allowed them to access data in the field. Paper usage and costs were greatly reduced.

The auditor’s real estate department was able to access the new information digitally and collaborate with Tyler on the review process to ensure its accuracy. The combination of street level and aerial images produced a higher quality picture of what was happening in county real estate. The auditor gained confidence that every property had been thoroughly reviewed and that current property records mirror the reality found in the field.

With CLT Appraisal Services staff and Tyler Verify’s successful implementation, Tyler helped Montgomery County to follow state mandates within a newly tightened budget, to achieve a higher accuracy level than reappraisal projects in the past and to increase taxpayer confidence and support.

Why Tyler?

• Tyler has more than 75 years of experience in the appraisal and tax software and services industry.
• Tyler provides tremendous flexibility and guidance during implementation of all software and services. We will work through database connectivity challenges and with other vendors to assure a smooth-running, integrated system.
• Tyler provides a large array of ongoing support options. Clients consistently give us high marks in customer satisfaction.

About Tyler Appraisal & Tax Solutions

Tyler Technologies began serving the appraisal market in 1938. Today, CLT Appraisal Services continues to be the country’s only national mass appraisal service company — successfully appraising over 30 million parcels and completing projects across 46 states. Sound appraisal practices and knowledge of developing computer systems allowed us to become the leading provider of appraisal and tax software and services in the U.S.

Tyler combines street-level imaging services and its Tyler Verify desktop review software to provide government agencies with cost-effective solutions for property data and image collection and high-quality, auditable, and affordable verification of assessment data in the office.

Tyler Verify offers the most complete property data verification service that meets International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) standards for desktop review. Tyler collects and verifies more than 50,000 parcels every month.