Property assessor to save overtime with new tech
An $85,000 technology investment in the Hamilton County Assessor of Property Office is expected to yield more than double that amount in overtime savings by 2021.
On Wednesday, the Hamilton County Commission voted 9-0 to approve a software upgrade for the office that will improve the efficiency of databases and field appraiser tablets.
“We have estimated we would pay $300,000 in overtime for the 2021 reappraisal, but this new software will likely put that closer to $100,000,” Hamilton County Property Assessor
Marty Haynes said before the commission meeting.
Hamilton County is on a four-year appraisal cycle. Haynes has explained his office gathers property value data in the three years between the reappraisal years, double-checking property data for tax purposes.
The upgrade enables field appraiser tablets to better measure the dimensions of structures, Haynes said.
The enhancements package also allows the assessor’s office to review all assessment year information in one database and to make comparisons based on property size, description and age, he said. The new software will connect multiple parcel transactions through both deeds and sales.
Taking advantage of the upgrade also locks in the assessor’s office annual licensing and support agreement with Patriot Properties Inc., the software vendor used by the office since 2011, Haynes has said.
The agreement sets the yearly cost at $69,995, with a 3 percent annual increase over the next five years.
Haynes said the money for the upgrade came from savings within the current year’s budget and is part of his plan to modernize the assessor’s office.
The commission also approved a $284,322 TriTech Software records management suite for the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and gave the Signal Mountain Police Department $6,420 to use for the purchase of a digital records system.
Money for the Signal Mountain Police Department comes from travel expense dollars allocated to District 2 Commissioner Jim Fields.
The new records system will give the police department “easier access when they are researching different crimes and different situations on the mountain,” Fields has said.
Don Gorman, director of administration for the sheriff’s office, told commissioners last week the database and mobile application purchase has been needed for 15 years.
The sheriff’s office has used TriTech for much of that time in partnership with the Chattanooga Police Department, but the police department has switched to another system, Gorman said.
“We need to do this to stand on our own,” Gorman said.