Modria Case Study: Durham County Assessor's Office

Tax administrator, Kimberly Simpson, and her team were preparing for a North Carolina statutory requirement where 109,286 parcels would be reassessed at 100% market value. The last reassessment occurred in 2008. She was adamant the office would handle an estimated 15,000 appeals versus the 1,000 appeals processed in non-revaluation years. She wanted a transparent, customer friendly appeal process, and relief for staff who log thousands of hours on the phone and at the counter with taxpayers, explaining the appeals process scanning stacks upon stacks of paper. Much of this time came at the expense of preparing appraisers for Board of Equalization hearings. Two things unsettled Kimberly: 1) the prospect of a revaluation where the public felt their appeals were lost in mountains of paperwork and 2) the onerous administrative functions would hinder appraiser-citizen communication.