Harris County Appraisal District Wins Award of Excellence The Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD) has been named the winner of the top award of excellence from an international appraisal organization. HCAD earned the prestigious Certificate of Excellence in Assessment Administration from the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO). The award recognizes excellence in appraisal and assessment practices, as well as best practices in the workplace. The process of achieving the Certificate of Excellence is a rigorous program of evaluation to the adherence to specific, accepted assessment administration and appraisal standards. Judges looked at HCAD’s internal processes for accurately assessing and appraising the homes, businesses, office towers and industrial complexes in Harris County. “Granting of the recognition indicates HCAD’s demonstration of the highest levels of managerial excellence and consistent use of practices that exceed the guidelines in property assessment administration practices,” said IAAO president Kim Lauffer, as she presented the award at the organization’s conference in Sacramento, California. HCAD has been a leader in property appraisal and assessment by developing new online programs that allow property owners and agents to protest their notices values through the district’s web site through iFile and resolve protests rather than appearing in person through iSettle. The district has consistently won the Government Finance Officers Association Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting award and earlier this year was given the Texas State Comptroller’s Leadership Circle Platinum Award for financial transparency. The Leadership Circle award was presented to the district for going above and beyond the standards for financial transparency set by the state. The district also has an active community outreach program it started this year to inform property owners about available exemptions and reporting requirements for business owners. Since January the district has done more than 40 public seminars throughout the county. Chief Appraiser Sands Stiefer said, “My goal for HCAD is to educate and serve the property owners of Harris County, provide fair and accurate appraisals, and be the employer of choice for people interested in working for the government.” HCAD is the largest appraisal district in Texas and one of the largest in the nation. The district has more than 1.7 million parcels of property to assess each year with a total market value of approximately $436 billion. The primary purpose and responsibility of the appraisal district is to provide fair and equitable property appraisals for taxation purposes to the taxing units and property owners in the county. In Texas, the property tax is the primary source of funding for local governments, such as school districts, cities, counties, junior college districts and other special districts such as Municipal Utility Districts. Property taxes pay much of the cost of public schools, police and fire protection, health services, courts, streets, water, sewage, parks and most other local government activities. IAAO is a professional organization for government assessment officials. The organization is the internationally recognized leader for innovation, education and research in property appraisal, assessment administration and property tax policy. IAAO serves over 7,000 members worldwide and celebrated its 80 anniversary in 2014.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 21:59:12 +0000
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