Assessing Info August 15

Walmart loses property tax appeal in Pulaski County, Arkansas >

Walmart lost its appeal on lowering its Pulaski County tax assessments Wednesday as County Judge Barry Hyde issued a ruling that said reports submitted by the retailer were "fundamentally flawed." Officials across the country have closely monitored the case, which is viewed by government tax assessors as Arkansas' first serious test of the so-called dark-store theory. The case concerns the county's 2017 valuation of eight Walmart Supercenters and two Sam's Club stores at a combined $145 million. Walmart first sought to reduce the total value to $93.4 million and later slashed the combined value to $74.3 million, which would be a 48 percent drop from the county's valuations. Read more

Airbnb sues Palm Beach County, calling rental ordinance unconstitutional >

The conflict between Airbnb and Palm Beach County, Florida, is showing no signs of a peaceful resolution, as the vacation rental hosting platform filed yet another lawsuit against the county and tax collector Anne Gannon. Read more

Missouri lawmakers investigate Jackson County assessments >

Jackson County's property assessments are attracting the attention of state lawmakers. A special committee overseeing local taxation is hearing testimony from the public this week. State lawmakers also are concerned about more than 74,000 properties in Jackson County (Kansas City) all receiving the same blanket increase of 14.9 percent without a visit by an inspector. Read more

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IAAO NEWS

+ IAAO approves position on fee simple >

On Aug. 2, 2019, the IAAO Board of Directors unanimously approved and released as the position of the Association the White Paper, "Setting the Record Straight on Fee Simple." Ongoing controversy regarding appraising the fee simple estate in real property has prompted the need for further discussion, and the paper, on this topic. Specific issues raised from the term fee simple absolute include whether a property should be valued as if vacant, whether the term assumes any encumbrances on the property, and whether fee simple implies market rent. The paper is available for download at www.iaao.org/feesimple and on Sept. 10, 2019, an educational session will be held on the paper at the 85th IAAO Annual Conference and Exposition in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Read more

+ IAAO releases mobile app for Annual Conference >

IAAO released the mobile app for the upcoming Annual Conference and registered attendees recently received an email on installation.The app has all the important information attendees need for the event and replaces the traditional printed program. And with the conference only a few weeks away, attendees are encouraged to download the app before the conference to maximize the value. In addition, attendees who download the app and log in before the conference will be entered in a drawing at the conference for a $50 Visa gift card. Read more

+ August webinar is on using data for assessments >

"The Power of Insights: Using Data for Fair and Equitable Assessments" will be the subject of a webinar on Wednesday, Aug. 21, and will review the benefits of integrating mapping and aerial photography with CAMA systems. Join this webinar and learn how Fulton County, Georgia, overcame fluctuating tax appraisals and rates, disjointed processes, and community distrust by revolutionizing their methods of sharing data to provide valuable insights to decision-makers, department staff, and the public. Hear how this journey started and where it’s headed. Read more

+ Instructor Coordinator meeting Sept. 9 in Niagara Falls >

The IAAO Professional Development Department will host an Instructor Coordinator Meeting during the upcoming Annual Conference on Monday, Sept. 9 from 3:00-4:30 p.m. at the Marriott on the Falls Hotel in the Hennepin Ballroom. All IAAO instructors and coordinators are welcome to attend. The Professional Development Department will review current educational operation updates and changes.

+ Today is deadline to register for Golf Tournament >

The registration deadline for the annual IAAO Conference Golf Tournament is today. The tournament is set for Sunday, Sept. 8, at the John Daly-designed Thundering Waters Golf Club in Niagara Falls, and a limited number of spots remain for players to register. The cost is $33 USD per player and includes green fees, cart, transportation, continental breakfast, lunch, and prizes. Club rentals are available on a first-come, first-served basis for $25 USD. Read more

+ Discounted leadership course available to members >

IAAO is partnering with the Professional Development Academy to promote special pricing for the National Association of Counties High Performance Leadership Academy and are establishing a special leadership class for assessment professionals starting Sept. 23. The NACo High Performance Leadership Academy is an online 12-week program that empowers county government professionals with fundamental leadership skills to deliver results for counties and communities. The retail price of the 12-week program is $1,995 per enrollee, however the first enrollee from each NACo member county receives a one-time NACo scholarship of $1,000 and a $500 discount for a final discounted price of $495. Read more

+ Journal accepted for inclusion in Scopus >

The Journal of Property Tax Assessment & Administration was notified it was accepted for inclusion in Scopus, the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature, expanding the reach of articles in the journal. Scopus is a source-neutral abstract and citation database curated by independent subject matter experts. It places powerful discovery and analytics tools in the hands of researchers, librarians, institutional research managers and funders. The Journal is published by IAAO and IPTI twice a year. Read the Journal

IAAO Connect Corner

+ Hot Topic: Zillow data request charge >

Currently IAAO Connect members are discussing how much to charge, if any, for a requested "data dump" of all our property information from Zillow. Read more

AROUND THE INDUSTRY

+ Pennsylvania court: Poverty claim doesn't exempt homeowner from paying property taxes >

A central Pennsylvania property owner who claims he is too poor to pay property taxes was handed a costly loss Tuesday by Commonwealth Court. In short, the state judges found Berks County officials didn’t violate Gilbert Martinez’s civil rights or otherwise discriminate against him by denying his plea to be exempted from property taxes on grounds of poverty. Read more

+ Are women at risk of workplace automation? >

The last few years have seen a number of reports attempting to explore how the future of work will unfold, and one of the most commonly cited was that produced by McKinsey in 2017. The report predicted that while less than 5 percent of occupations were fully automatable, some 60 percent of jobs had tasks that could be automated around 30 percent. Read more

+ Spear phishing cyberattack costs Naples, Florida, $700,000 >

Officials in the southwest Florida city of Naples say they lost $700,000 in a recent cyberattack. The Naples Daily News reports that the attack was a “spear phishing” effort targeting a specific person or department and that appeared to be from a trusted source. Read more

+ U.S. office vacancy lowest in 18 years, despite lots of new construction >

The U.S office market continued to experience accelerated growth in the second quarter, with 17.1 million square feet absorbed, bringing the year-to-date total to 66.5 million sq. ft. Vacancy dropped to 12.2 percent nationally — the lowest level in 18 years, according to a second quarter office report from real estate services firm CBRE. Read more