Certificate of Excellence

In 2012, Washington County, Arkansas Assessor’s Office became the first jurisdiction in that state to earn the CEAA. Former IAAO President Debra Asbury was pleased that a jurisdiction from her state succeeded in the program during her presidency and hopes that other will follow in their footsteps. Washington County wanted to participate primarily to find ways to improve their services to the citizens of the county. Besides making the decision to enter the program, the most difficult part of the process was sorting through the mountain of data, deciding what was relevant and to what degree.

Washington County had 6 primary contributors with input from 8 other staff members over an 8-month period requiring nearly 1,800 hours of work on their submission. The major change they would have made in retrospect was to have one author write the entire submission. They assigned individual chapters to team members based upon their areas of expertise and this was a good idea for the context of the question, but due to different writing styles this created a choppy look and read. Eventually, they did assign one author and thus created a much more professional document.

The best advice they have for interested jurisdictions is to take your time, establish a well-defined structure for the project, have only one writer but multiple reviewers, and remember that you can never contact your mentor enough. The sense of teamwork that came out of this project made the whole undertaking worth the effort. They had to work together as never before which built cohesiveness that would have been impossible to achieve otherwise.

in 2018, Washington County recertified their CEAA for the first time.

In 2017, Los Angeles County, California Office of the Assessor became the first jurisdiction in that state to earn the CEAA. As the first jurisdiction they faced the difficult process of determining how while operating under Article XIII of the California Constitution they were still meeting the standards and best practices of IAAO. The office says this was the most difficult part of the CEAA process for their office. The submission was a group project involving over 80 staff members from all levels of the office and was completed in eight months.

Jeffrey Prang, Assessor for the County of Los Angeles, said, “The IAAO Certificate of Excellence represents the judgement of the finest experts in government assessment—there is no higher or more meaningful praise than that of peers from throughout the nation. The rigorous self-examination and thorough review is a testament to the professionalism and public service commitment exemplified by every member of the Los Angeles County Office of the Assessor. Our Mission Statement contains the aspiration to be the premier assessment agency in the nation—the CEAA affirms and encourages us toward that goal.”

Elbert County is the first jurisdiction in Colorado to be honored with the CEAA. The process leading to its submission began in 2014 with a review, restructuring, and documentation of every process within the office. They wished to validate these time-consuming efforts that engaged the entire staff of their small office of seven; the CEAA program seemed like one of the best opportunities to do so.

District of Columbia Real Property Tax Administration Assessment was the fourth jurisdiction to be recognized with the CEAA in 2019. The office made it a priority to complete the CEAA by including it in the agency’s strategic plan. The office completed its CEAA submission within a year and included 20 staff members in the process.

Walter Velasquez said, “While the District of Columbia utilizes best appraisal and assessment practices, there are areas where we can improve and strengthen our operations to better serve our constituents. We have started to make changes for improvements because of the CEAA.”

The first jurisdiction to receive the CEAA, the Alachua County, Florida, Property Appraiser’s Office, believed that its business processes were exceptional and wanted to be the first certificate recipient in 2004. They recertified in 2010 and became the first jurisdiction to recertify for a second time in 2016. To achieve this goal, four point people from various departments were selected: the Chief Deputy Property Appraiser, the Executive Director of Administration, the Executive Director of Valuation, and the Information Technology Director. These four representatives made the commitment to complete the self-evaluation with their respective staff members in the shortest time possible. The process ended up taking three weeks of focused, dedicated effort, plus many overtime hours. Glenda Walrath, IT Director, said, “In retrospect, we should have broken the project down in greater detail and assigned it to the responsible departments. In fact, when we worked on our five-year resubmission, we did that, and it was much more manageable”. The Alachua County Property Appraiser’s Office encourages jurisdictions that are interested in pursuing the certificate to give themselves enough time to go through the exercise carefully, and advises that, if they discover a process that does not meet or exceed the requirements, to use the Assessment Practices: Self-Evaluation Guide to assist in improving those areas. Walrath also advises, “In addition, have one person handle the administrative tasks of formatting and tracking the exhibits included in the document. Also, use your most knowledgeable staff to manage the self-assessment exercise.”

The Alachua County office considers the CEAA recognition to be confirmation that it is a leader in the industry, along with the benefit that the journey itself created a strong team environment among the staff members who participated.

Brevard County is the 13th Florida jurisdiction to earn the CEAA. The certification is a culmination of work that began in 2013 to improve the office’s efficiency. After a new CAMA system and website were adopted, attention was directed to the administration of the office, leading to pursuing the CEAA. Drafting the submission began in July 2019 with a staff of eight writers and one lead editor, taking six months to complete. They learned more about the day-to-day operations of other departments and gained a better understanding of their strengths and areas where they can improve.

In 2011, Clay County became the sixth county in Florida to earn the certificate. In 2017, Clay County recertified their CEAA. Clay County had seven people involved in their submission as they worked over a four-six-month period. The most difficult part of this submission was making the time for many employees to prepare, review and submit the document in a busy work environment. Clay County recommends other jurisdictions view the CEAA process as an opportunity to review the assessment roll process and to learn how the roles and workflows of each division and department are integrated.

Tracy Drake, AAS, RES, CAE, Assistant Property Appraiser, states “The CEAA is a rigorous and highly prestigious certification administered by the IAAO based on their standards and best practices. Jurisdictions should ensure they are not only satisfying the requirements of their respective provinces/states, but also the standards of IAAO. This should not be considered a ‘minimum standards’ certification”.

Hillsborough County, Florida Property Appraiser’s Office earned their CEAA in 2014 and is the 11th Florida jurisdiction with the certificate. Hillsborough County Property Appraiser Bob Henriquez began his tenure in January 2013 by challenging the organization to re-think and re-invent its vision and re-invigorate a staff in transition. Working in conjunction with the strategic planning process, their office entered the CEAA program as an additional means of thoroughly taking stock of current procedures and practices. As a result of the successful completion, the CEAA has been added to their strategic plan, which guides the operations of the office. The staff plans to use it as a framework to ensure they are meeting their strategic goals and objectives for continuous improvement and best practices within the organization.

The Hillsborough County staff recommends that jurisdictions preparing a CEAA submission allow themselves enough time to complete it. They had set themselves a challenging timeline and found that although they were able to meet the deadline, “the process required extraordinary leadership and a close-knit team. In order to give our office more time to work on the final report, and avoid extra weekends and evenings in the office, it would have been beneficial to start the process earlier in the year.”

In 2008, the Lee County Property Appraiser’s Office earned the CEAA and recertified in 2015. They perceived the certificate program as an opportunity to perform an in-depth review of current business practices and evaluate those findings according to the standards of IAAO. Jacquelyn Mabry, who works in Training & Special Projects at the Lee County Property Appraiser’s Office said, “One of our most valuable lessons was that in assessment administration there are many options and choices in creating sound business practices and there is no harm in critiquing our own practices. Through critiquing, we can only move forward in a more appropriate direction.”

In retrospect, the Lee County office would have spent more time in the planning stages. For a short time, many departments and employees were involved, thus creating many different templates, voices, and tones. This necessitated a revamp of the plan to assign one person to create one voice and one cohesive submission.

In 2012, Leon County, Florida Property Appraiser’s Office became the 11th jurisdiction to earn the certificate since the inception of the program, and the 8th jurisdiction in Florida to earn the certificate. Leon was already undergoing an office realignment in response to market changes and simultaneously preparing for a new CAMA system. What better opportunity to conduct an evaluation of office processes than to enter the CEAA program?

Leon County’s advice to others is to identify the key person in your office for each chapter topic and give them 30-60 days to rough in responses to the submission. Those rough responses can be polished by one person assigned to compile the overall submission. This approach took approximately one year to complete the entire submission.

Their greatest benefits were the boosted pride of the staff from the successful process and the recognition from their peers at the annual conference. An added benefit is that the self-evaluation helps to identify office processes that need changes, and management staff can implement them as needed.

In 2015, Martin County, Florida Property Appraiser’s Office earned their certificate. Access Martin County’s submission on their website.

“We strive to continually improve our processes and practices. We entered a submission for this award to measure our practices against the best practices in the industry. The process resulted in an expanded written procedures manual compiled into a comprehensive document that can be used for internal documentation and training purposes. We plan to post the manual on our website for public reference to increase public knowledge of the appraisal/assessment process. Knowledge is the key to understanding and trust. We are proud to be recognized as a model office for excellence in assessment administration by IAAO.”

In 2012, Orange County, Florida Property Appraiser’s Office contributed to their state’s overwhelming lead in the number of certified jurisdictions. They have already undertaken a self-review to root out “institutionalized” processes that were not required by law and could thus provide budgetary savings. The CEAA program provided the formal structure for an agency-wide review of internal practices and procedures.

Their certificate offers confirmation to the citizens of Orange County and the public at large of their professionalism and best practices. For any interested jurisdiction, they advise you to take the project very seriously by setting a goal to learn from it and be a better agency because of the process.

in 2018, Orange County recertified their CEAA for the first time.

The Osceola County, Florida, Property Appraiser’s Office earned their CEAA in 2010 and recertified in 2016. They took a hint from the Seminole County office when newly elected Property Appraiser Katrina S. Scarborough decided to use the CEAA vehicle to review office procedures and processes to determine whether the office was following best practices. She also wanted the office to work together to achieve a worthy goal that would represent a testament to the employees for their dedication and hard work in servicing the public. As the office’s motto states, “The best PA office, because we care”. According to Scarborough, “While we have always been confident in our knowledge and processes, it was nice to see just how closely we follow the best practices in assessment, in accordance with the certificate program. It made everyone think about the steps in the management and appraisal process to see if there were any areas for improvement”. The office counted it as an advantage to know that it was doing things right. By analyzing everything and identifying areas for improvement, the entire office gained a boost in confidence. As a newly elected property appraiser, Scarborough found that public confidence in what the office is doing is a very valuable commodity. She recommends having a good mentor to assist with the certificate program, regardless of whether you’re newly elected or not.

In 2021 Palm Beach County became the 14th Florida jurisdiction to earn the CEAA. Tim Wilmath, Chief Appraiser, said, “The CEAA award is the most prestigious assessment award a jurisdiction can obtain. We’ve worked hard to improve our processes and implement many new systems and wanted to showcase our achievements.”

Pinellas County, Florida Property Appraiser’s Office earned the CEAA in 2011 and recertified in 2017. . For Pinellas County the most difficult part of the CEAA submission process was taking the first steps and developing the time line and support to maintain the motivation to write, research and revise the submission. The office recommends planning as a priority and having strong leads who will provide motivation to keep the project going and on time.Erin Moore, AAS, RES, Former Chief Deputy Pinellas County Property Appraiser, says “Sometimes it isn’t obvious how far you’ve come or even if you’re headed in the right direction until you take inventory of your practices and accomplishments. The recertification provides a great reminder of the map we laid out for ourselves in our strategic plan. As we looked at our processes in detail, potential for future advancements or improvements have been revealed.”

In 2016, Saint Lucie County became the 12th jurisdiction in Florida to be recognized with the CEAA.  The Saint Lucie County Property Appraiser’s Office is made up of 70 professionals who are dedicated to providing superior service and trusted results. They agreed that the CEAA was a way to solidify their office’s high standards. 

Saint Lucie County suggests selecting a team leader once a jurisdiction commits to the CEAA process. “This person does not necessarily need to be in charge of content, but should ensure the project deadlines are met and the guidelines are followed.”

In 2012, Sarasota County, Florida Property Appraiser’s Office became the tenth jurisdiction from the state of Florida to earn the CEAA. They recently underwent many procedural changes in their office that have resulted in a high-quality work product and improved taxpayer service. To quantify their progress, they wanted to analyze all of their processes to identify strengths and weaknesses, and the CEAA is a very comprehensive evaluation tool with a vast amount of information required for the submission.

The process took them about seven months, during which Sarasota County found a deeper appreciation and understanding of the expertise and knowledge held and shared by the members of the staff team. They also learned that it is important to self-assess to implement best practices and ensure that the agency stays on top of industry standards. To interested jurisdictions, Sarasota recommends using the mentor early and developing strong top to bottom commitment among the staff.

in 2018, Sarasota County recertified their CEAA for the first time.

Seminole County, Florida Property Appraiser’s Office recertified their CEAA in for the second time in 2018. The office recertified for the first time in 2012 originally earned the CEAA in 2005 when they were the second jurisdiction to become certified. They recommend that all certified jurisdictions review the requirements for recertification as soon as the CEAA is earned so that you can track employee’s education, legislative changes, and major operation changes over the next five years. This will make the recertification process much easier when the time comes. The recertification process involves submitting four chapters of the jurisdiction’s choosing, a summary of legislative changes, and a summary of employee continuing education.