CRED Officials attend University of North Carolina IAAO Seminar / Continuing Education on the preparation for appeals and litigation on property taxes. As part of CRED’s services in the on-site inspection and inventory and valuation of cell tower sites, the Client’s agreement includes CRED’s commitment to attend and support the Tax Assessor, his /her staff and Board of Adjustment in support of the County’s “cost basis”…CRED’s, Replacement Cost New (RCN) estimate. While the seminar focused on income properties; the procedures and role for outside appraisers and consultants followed suit for tangible personal property. Hiring CRED as the County’s Expert Consultant will protect records from discovery and prepare the County for reaching “common ground” with respect to the new taxes in lieu of depending upon a third party judicial decision.
FCIAAO annual meeting in St. Petersburg, FL reinforced CRED’s Replacement Cost New (RCN) model and need of the same. CRED Officials and their State Regional Valuation Director participated in a three (3) day conference in St. Petersburg, FL. While CRED had met with several counties independent of the conference, it was CRED’s first formal attendance as an Exhibitor in Florida. Many of the State’s Property Appraisers, Assistant Property Appraisers and Tangible Personal Property Appraisers stopped by CRED’s exhibit to discuss the significance of “cost over income” approaches and CRED’s Replacement Cost New model. Seventeen counties received examples of the potential for increased tax collections based on 2015 / 2016. This has led to discussions and exploration of use of CRED’s model in coming months.
Douglas County, GA sees merit, extends Wireless Facilities – Validation Report to Countywide Report. The County’s Board of Assessors and Benny Waldrop, Chief Tax Appraiser / Assessor engaged CRED to develop a Validation Report to extrapolate tax lifts for wireless facilities in Douglas County (a suburban County of the Atlanta MSA). Twenty (20.0) percent of the total number of registered FCC sites were inspected and priced for current values. The County’s reconciliation of CRED’s work to an anticipated rendered tax value and tax supported the Boards decision to implement the program countywide in order to place the new values on the 2017 digest. Work is set to commence in the fall of 2016.