County Assessor’s Department of Field & Data Management

The duties of this department include:

• Receiving and Processing of Field Review Requests• Physical Assessment of Real Property• Data Collection and Data Management for Assessor Departments• Office, Email and Telephone Customer Service

James C. Werner Department Head / Senior Deputy

County Assessor Samantha SteeleUpon transition from the township assessor system to a unified system under the elected County Assessor in January of 2009, Samantha Steele envisioned specialized departments to handle each section that was under her jurisdiction to better serve taxpayers. Specialized Department Heads stay in close contact with the Assessor individually and have bi-weekly meetings as a group to discuss how we can better assist each other, staff concerns, and to communicate ever changing legislation related to our jobs. This information is then passed on to the staff through county emails and department meetings. The Department of Field and Data Management is empowered by the authority of the assessor to act on her behalf in matters of determining fair and equitable values on real property.

Assessors Office Time Line

January 2007

Samantha Steele elected as County Assessor

Parcel Sales and Data Search added to web.

First Electronic Sketching done by Assessors office.

Field Requests Converted to database

County Assessor given duties of all 10

Rural Townships (about 19000

parcels)

County Assessor now in charge of Wea & Wabash

adding 23,788 parcels more than double the

work load

July 2008

Access (SQL) Data Management system in

use by field staff

January 2009

County Assessor now in charge of Fairfield

Township 21,132 parcels. (3Xs original

workload)

All historical property record sketches scanned

available on web site

In House Trending Finished

1st Commercial Mass Appraisal using Income

Approach

Staff Divided in to

Specialized Departments

Field Staff

Office Demographics

Practical Experience

Science and TechnologyLiberal Arts

Our office staff comes from a variety of different backgrounds. They have different work experiences, education types, and political leanings. We have cultural and generational diversity and currently at least one Spanish speaking assessor. We have individuals with general practical experience such as customer service and data entry as well as specialized experience with construction, surveying, residential appraisal, real estate sales, and mortgage origination. Educationally, we have staff with Masters, Bachelors, and Associate Degrees in both technical and creative areas of emphasis, as well as professional licenses and certifications in addition to required state assessor certifications.

Department Head James C. Werner

Qualifications and Work History

• MA Purdue University, BFA American Academy• Level II Assessor• Prior Manager at United Parcels Service & Branch Manager for

National Mortgage Banker• United States Marine Corp Non Commissioned Officer• Background in technical Drawing and Architecture• College Professor (Ivy Tech, Purdue, American Academy)• Real Estate Investor / Business Owner

• Association of Indiana County Assessors• International Association of Assessing Officers

Professional Memberships

Current Full Time StaffJob Titles Reflect Area of Expertise and May not be Official Titles

• James Werner Department Head (MA BFA)

• Dusty Schriber Improvements Deputy (AAS) Background in construction, management and communications.

• Daniel Morrison Land Chief Deputy (BA) Background in Environmental Engineering

• Cipriano Ayala Land and Improvements (AAS) Licensed Real Estate Agent, Loan Originator & Investor

• Paula Wright “Jeannie” Improvements / Homesteads 6 years working for Township Assessor

• Allen Nugent Improvements (Series 6 & 63 Brokerage ) Background in Investment Banking and Advising / Returning Student working on BA

• Laura Yetman Improvements (BA) Background in customer service and management

Current Part Time StaffJob Titles Reflect Area of Expertise and May not be Official Titles

• Phyllis Kirby Data Entry

• Thomas DeLuca Data Conversion / Development BA, MA, Phd

• Catherine Turner Data Collection & Field Support

• Jennifer Jones Sketching & Field Support

• Andrea Jennings Field Support (Residential Appraisal Background) BA

• Jim Jones Mapping Specialist (Just Retired)

• Raj Seshu Programmer BA U of Chicago; JD UCLA; 30 yrs Programming Exper; fmr. U. Denver Faculty (Replaced Full Time Programmer)

Tools and Technology

• Rapid Sketch (Computer Aided Drafting tool)• Assess95 Computer Aided Mass Appraisal System• All Microsoft Office Utilities (ACCESS)• ARC Map, Arc Reader, GIS, Google Earth• Microsoft Streets and Trips• Adobe Publisher• (Training on Manatron CAMA)• Income Works (Income Approach Valuation System)

Who we serve

• Tax Payers– Title Companies– Appraisers– Realtors– Bankers and Mortgage Brokers– Homeowners – Prospective Home Buyers and Sellers– Other Government Agencies (DOT HUD APC)

My personal vision for the Assessors Field Office is that our data will be viewed as being generally accurate and that the people will see us as consumer advocates (the way they view Dept. of Weights and Measures or Health Department)

Mapping Specialists & Land Deputy

• Takes in new plat maps and assigns values when new parcel numbers are created.

• Deals with Auditor's “Green Card” system of change notifications.

• Values Platted Lots, Agricultural Land, and Commercial Land.

• Creating Maps for all Assessment Needs ARC GIS

Plat Information Converted to Data and Value

Developer Discounts

Agricultural Pricing (Soil Analysis)

Home Site Acre

Changes to Legal Descriptions

Splits & Combines

Influence Factors

Location Codes (Land Committee)

Lot Pricing per sqft & front foot

Land Class

Customer Service

Improvements Deputy

• Sketching• Site Photography • Data Entry for Valuation• Construction Materials• Grade• Condition• Effective Age• Obsolesce• Use Type

Hand Drawn Sketch vs. Computer Assisted Sketch

Example Sketch Completed in Rapid Sketch from Blue Prints

Desktop Review

• Using the management tool, we will target areas already flagged for multiple reviews.

• Incorporated new methods using GIS and Pictometry.

• Collect various Typography information required for General Reassessment

Field Review

• The Field is responsible for reviewing all new construction Permits, Appeals, and annual Personal Property reviews.

• The Field is capable of targeting neighborhood reviews based on currently flagged reviews.

• The Field is currently reviewing over 10% of parcels with improvements .

Data Management & Tracking

• Filing cabinets have been used for previous data management and tracking.

• The computer assisted management tool has proven to be an effective tool in tracking daily/weekly/monthly work flow.

Current Data Projects

• Data Mapping for General Re-Assessment

• Construction of Data Collection Sheet for Tyler and Door Hanger

• Migration of Data from Old to New CAMA

• Change Orders to integrate the best of our current systems with Manatron System

• Integration of Dual Maps with Access for faster Desktop Reviews.

Triggers

• Receiving The Request– Permits (New Construction) March 1st-Trending

• Union Township (manual process contact twp)• Lafayette (ftp site all permits are scanned but reports are limited)• West Lafayette (Data Reports are excellent but we pick up from city)• County Building Commission (Pick up down stairs limited data reports)• Area Planning (Hand delivers permits to our in box, no data reports)• Benton County ( Part of Otterbein is in Tipp.Co. City pulls permits in Benton)

– Other Triggers• Appeals• 133s filed by tax payers or Errors found by staff that need resolved• Phone Calls• Area Plan, Auditor, Highway Dept, Health Dept • Real Estate Professionals• Sales Disclosures (Sales that seem too high or low) • GENERAL RE ASSESSMENT

Normal Office WorkflowNew Construction PermitsAppeal ReviewsCustomer Service Reviews

Data EntryPermits

Blue Prints are Converted to Assessors Sketches

Old Assessor Sketches are converted to electronic and Record Card is Reviewed for Accuracy

Routing Reports and maps are Generated

Field Visit

Trip is Prepared

Appeal & Reviews

Final Sketch& Valuation

Assessor Data Management System

(Designed by James Werner)• Search County Data by ANY part of any field. • This year there were no missed assessments of new

construction which allowed trending to be finished faster.

• Total Accountability and Tracking with detailed reports

• Auto Population of Forms and mailing labels• Less file cabinet work.• Produces Field Trips for routing by any searchable field• Will be easy to create data collection sheets, routes,

sketches, and export of data for mapping flagged requests when general reassessment begins.

Reporting

• Required Individual Weekly Reports

• Office Sketching Reports

• Office Field Review Reports

• Office Data Entry Reports

• Phone Call Report (Builds Data Base)

• # of Permit Reports per Township

• More by Design

Current Number of Parcels Per Township

• Township Real Property Parcel Count• FAIRFIELD 21132 • WABASH 12336 • WEA 11452 • TIPPECANOE 4088 • PERRY 3691• SHEFFIELD 2297 • SHELBY 1871 • LAURAMIE 1856• WASHINGTON 1524• WAYNE 1143• UNION 1040• RANDOLPH 761 • JACKSON 659

12% of 19,000 Parcels

12% of an additional 23,788 Parcels in

Wabash and Wea Townships

12% of 21,132 Parcels in Fairfield Township

County Assessors Office Workload Time Line and Field Staff (Appeals, Sales and New Construction)

January 2007 Township Trustee Assessor System 20 Part Time 4 Full Time

July 2008 – January 2009 At least 9 full time people from 3 townships

January 2009 County Assessor Field Staff is 7 Full Time and 7 Part Time including a programmer.

January 2008 County Assessor 3 Full Timers

Starting in July of 2009 General Re Assessment begins. We will have 6 full time contracted assessors from Tyler Technologies added to our staff and we will be reviewing, and data entering 50% of 63,920 Parcels that they plan to see and still maintain the office, phones and appeal and permit intake. This will increase our data entry work load by over 400%

County Assessor StaffOld System

General Re-Assessment Workflow

New Construction PermitsAppeal ReviewsCustomer Service Reviews

Data Entry Continues for New Requests

Perm

its NEW PERMITS

Reports and maps will be Generated For Contractors With Ariel Maps Color Coded to Indicate Permits, Appeals & Other.

Trips are Prepared

Appeal & R

eviews

Final Sketch ChangesValuation Entered by County Staff

Contractors Doing Field Reviews

Sketching

DATA MAPS

Accountability Reporting