The world of assessing is changing

Late last year, the governor issued Executive Order 2009-51 to disband the State Assessors Board and reassigned all of its duties to the State Tax Commission. The State Assessors Board was responsible for educating and certifying all assessors in the state, as well as hearing any complaints regarding their job performance.

 

The new State Tax Commission, with its expanded authority, met for the first time this month. The commission has started on a path to completely revamp the assessing practices in the state. First on the agenda was to change the current four levels of certified assessors. The greatest changes will come in the area of level  1 and 2 assessors. These two levels will be combined into a single level called Michigan Certified Assessing Officer. In the future, a person must successfully complete a 24-month course in order to become certified assessing officer. The course is expected to include both computer study as well as class meetings with hands-on assessing assignments.  Current Level  1 and 2 training programs have been suspended and the commission has authorized the funding to develop the new course material for certified assessing officers.  Level 3 assessors will now be known as Advanced Assessing Officers and level 4 assessors will be known as Master Assessing Officers.

 

The issue that seems to be most on the minds of the commission is the preparation of the assessing roll. Much of the assessor training in the past has been focused on how to assess a piece of property; however, very little time was spent on how to take all of the individual assessments and create the final valuations for the assessing roll.

 

While plans are not complete, it is very likely that current level 1 assessors will be required to take some form of additional training or testing in order to qualify for the certified assigning officer designation; it will not require two years of courses.

 

Education requirements for all assessors will change as well. Beginning in 2011, assessors will be required to take 30 hours of continuing education over a period of three years.  The three-year time frame will follow the new renewal standards that will shift from every year to every three years. Personal Property Examiner Certificates will become an endorsement on the regular certificate and will require an additional fee and continuing education.  Specific training will be required to become an equalization director. No changes have been made to the current level 3 and 4 assessing requirements; however, a committee has already begun the process of reviewing the entire level 4 process.

 

The tax commission also addressed the issue of site visits. The commission is strongly encouraging cities and townships to do site visits to 20 percent of their properties each year. In the past, local units have been encouraged to do revaluations at least once every five years. Because of the expense of revaluations, it was noted that budgeting for this expense every year instead of once every five years would make administration less problematic. Making site visits is an important component of passing the 14-point review for assessing.

 

If all of these changes bring lots of questions to mind, MTA has a way to find the answers. MTA will be bringing in representatives from the Department of Treasury and the State Tax Commission to discuss all of the changes that are being made in assessing requirements and where else the commission may go in the future. Please join us at the MTA Capitol Conference held in Lansing on April 21.  Further details are provided within this newsletter.