Williamson County and Tyler Verify

• Industry: County Government
• Location: Williamson County, Texas
• Population: 442,782
• Tyler Client Since: 1998
• Properties in 2012 Assessment Roll: 135,000
• Tyler Products Used: Tyler Verify, Orion

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The Facts

Located in Central Texas on the Balcones Escarpment, Williamson County spans 1,137 square miles and is home to 15 cities, including the northern limits of Austin and Georgetown — the county’s largest city and county seat. Adhering to Texas law, the Williamson Central Appraisal District (WCAD) revalues properties every year. Performing revaluations so frequently can make it difficult to find a solution that meets budget, time and legislature demands and makes it that much more important to have a solid baseline of property data.

Key Challenges

• Increase taxpayer and appraiser confidence and trust in property data.
• Streamline the street-level image and verification process to reduce labor demands and costs.
• Establish a solid and sound baseline for all future revaluations.

Benefits

• The district found 11 percent of parcels to be incorrect, which resulted in $88.5 million in newfound improvement revenue and $2.2 million of recurring tax revenue.
• Property owner support and trust exponentially increased because the district’s transparency was displayed. By sharing up-to-date property images with inquiring taxpayers, WCAD was able to demonstrate that their appraisals were accurate.
• A solid baseline was established, ensuring that future valuations will be defendable, accurate and fair.

The Challenge

Adhering to Texas law, WCAD performs property revaluations every year. As part of that process, the district captures street-level images and updates its Orion software, the district’s computer-assisted mass appraisal system from Tyler Technologies. However, as time passed, Chief Appraiser Alvin Lankford and Deputy Chief Appraiser Chris Connelly wondered about the accuracy of their property data. They wanted to ensure that they were giving taxpayers every reason to have trust and confidence in the district. The Williamson Central Appraisal District needed a solution that would verify thousands of parcels in a timely and efficient manner, while providing the district with an accurate baseline, all within a tight budget.

Partnering with Tyler to Execute a Technology Driven Verification

On a mission to ensure that all 135,000 property values in the district were fair and accurate, WCAD contracted with Yotta MVS, later acquired by Tyler Technologies in 2011 and operating today as Tyler Verify, to perform a district-wide sketch rotation and verification project using Tyler Verify, a technology driven data and sketch verification solution.

First, high definition street-level images were taken. Next, each CAMA sketch vector image was overlaid on ortho-photography images. This allowed WCAD to verify property characteristics, confirm improvements, compare multiple datasets and identify properties that needed follow up to resolve discrepancies and collect missing data. Sketches that matched perfectly were approved. Those that were found to be inaccurate or incomplete were flagged for review. Most sketch issues were able to be resolved at the desktop using Orion’s Appraisal Property Management software features, which linked existing county information, such as ortho, oblique and street-view imagery and sketch vectors. For those few parcels that needed the attention of a field review, Orion’s reporting functions provided a detailed site map, ensuring efficiency and productivity.

Being able to determine if parcels were accurate and fix the majority of issues at the desktop allowed the district to have complete confidence that the data for each parcel was correct. This eliminated the need to perform traditional fieldwork, which ultimately saved the district significant time and money. The district was able to complete the entire project, including all the necessary site visits, in only five months — increasing the district’s operational efficiencies and money savings.

The results of the verification were astounding. In all, the district found 11 percent of parcels reviewed to be incorrect. That resulted in $88.5 million found in improvement value and $2.2 million in recurring tax revenue. In addition, the verification established a solid baseline for future valuations and enhanced the fairness and equality of the appraisals in the district. Most importantly, the district was able to use their street-level imagery during the protest process and provided taxpayers with the transparency they were looking for, giving them peace of mind and confidence in the appraisal district.

Why Tyler?

• For more than 75 years, Tyler has been the trusted provider of integrated appraisal software and services to more than 1,300 jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canada.
• CLT Appraisal Services, the country’s only national mass appraisal services company, has delivered appraisal services in 46 states and 23 state capitals across the United States.
• Highly skilled specialists from Tyler CLT Appraisal Services have been providing quality, precise data collection and verification using the Tyler Verify suite of services for over 25 years.

About Tyler Appraisal & Tax Solutions

Given our deep public domain experience, we understand that when it comes to serving your jurisdiction, you need the right blend of innovative functionality and reliable performance for your appraisal and verification service solutions.

Tyler Verify offers the most complete property data-verification service that meets International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) standards for desktop review. Combining street-level imaging services and the Tyler Verify desktop review software, we 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’s Orion appraisal and tax software is the go-to solution for unparalleled access to appraisal, tax and collections information. With Orion, you’ll benefit from proven information management, better access to critical data, faster business processing and integration with up-to-date mapping, photo imaging and property valuation applications.