In this post, I wanted to share that the School of Government’s Knapp Library has a new collection for North Carolina’s assessment community. This is a short post because I anticipate most of the reading will occur as you explore the links in this post. In January, IAAO announced the availability of their new collection of informational books on assessment, Apendium.
Category: Administration (page 2 of 4)
Budgeting in Local Government
November 6-9, 2018, School of Government
This four-day course covers the legal and management framework of budget preparation and enactment in North Carolina local government. Participants will discuss the numerous processes and techniques used to produce an annual operating budget and capital budget.
Introduction by Kirk Boone
Maybe the assessment stars were aligned two weeks ago when PTEP held IAAO 300, Fundamentals of Mass Appraisal, in Rocky Mount, NC.
- On August 20, the first day of class, WRAL, our local NBC affiliate, published an article about leading edge statistics software used to support Wake County mass appraisal. Marcus Kinrade, AAS, Wake County Revenue Director, shared the following article with me.
- WRAL is a pioneer in technology. In 1996, WRAL provided the first public high definition television broadcast in the United States. In 2016, they became the first US station to broadcast a full time service using standards for 4K ultra HD content.
- SAS Institute, the company providing the statistical technology, is leading-edge. The world’s largest privately held software company, right here in Wake County, is used by Google as a model for some of their own workplace development.
- Mr. Kinrade was attending IAAO 300 that week. The course introduces statistical techniques used in mass appraisal. Although IAAO 300 topics such as clustering and regression analysis have been in use for hundreds of years, it is the same mathematics combined with today’s technology and local government leadership that allow for what you’re about to read. This is an impressive collaboration between a leading-edge company and a leading-edge county.
In the wake of the Wayfair ruling and our changes happening in North Carolina I am excited to share a virtual issue of Public Budgeting & Finance that I edited. It compiles articles published in the journal and presents questions and concerns regarding the future of sales tax policy. It also makes access to the articles open (i.e., FREE!) for the next six months. So please take a look, there are a mix of studies that examine state and local issues.
Also, in addition to editing the virtual issue, I will be moderating a virtual roundtable next Thursday (Sept 6th) on the topic. Please tune in! The presenters are: Donald Bruce from the University of Tennessee, Cynthia Rogers from the University of Oklahoma, and Barry Boardman is the Chief Economist for the NC General Assembly. The presenters are very knowledgeable and experts on different aspects of sales taxes and are sure to share important insights, suggestions, and considerations. See the flier for the event!
It wasn’t always called the NC Candidates’ Club. There was no need to designate it as the “NC” club because we were the only such club in the nation. The club started in 1984 at what was then called the “Institute of Government”, so it was first named the Institute of Government’s Candidates’ Club. Just one year earlier, a young appraiser who started his career in Tennessee began lecturing at UNC’s Institute of Government. His name was Joe Hunt and is now known by many as one who advanced the science and art of property tax assessment in North Carolina.
Joe Hunt, CAE
How might a citizen advisory committee aid in the reappraisal process? In the SOG publication, “Creating and Maintaining Effective Local Government Citizen Advisory Committees, Upshaw, 2010″, here is the introductory reason to have CACs:
When communities face complex issues affecting large, diverse groups, citizen engagement leads to people being better informed, better able to collaborate with others, and more active in addressing issues that affect them. By sharing responsibility, local officials increase opportunities for citizens to contribute to the common good.
KISS is only one acronym or abbreviation for the minimalist approach I’m referring to in this post. Another popular way to put it is “less is more”. Maybe my favorite is “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”.
Consider these tactics and efforts the Moby Dick, Wuthering Heights, and Alice in Wonderland of sharing budget information. Except no one makes you read (or watch) these in high school.
The first step, in my opinion, in productive citizen engagement is providing information and helping educate citizens about government and budgeting. This is because government is just a black box to most people. They sort of understand some of the most basic functions of government, but may not have any idea of which level of government does it. Who pays for libraries? Roads? Do I have police and a sheriff? What about fire service? What does the state even do? These are not unrealistic questions. Continue reading
There has been a lot of interest in how to tighten up the relationships between citizens and their local governments. At the local level there is a lot more opportunity to work with and get feedback from citizens. This is accomplished by many communities and in various ways. I believe, and I know this will be shocking, that the budget is the single best place to engage citizens. The budget is the encyclopedia of government. The budget reflects what government does and reflects priorities based on spending decisions, as well as changes in the community as reflected in changes in the budget from year to year.
***I love this quote from a VP debate in 2012. 1) It is true. 2) It is hilarious because we are living in a time of continuing resolutions rather than budgets at the federal level, so I guess we prioritize not making hard decisions and not working together.*** Continue reading
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