Lloyd Hara for King County Assessor

As a candidate for King County Assessor in 2009, I laid out an agenda for the remaining two years of the unfinished term I would be elected to fill.

Holding myself accountable, here is a point by point recap of my plan as published (“What I’ll Do”) in Campaign 2009, and the steps we have taken so far.

“I will instill a customer service culture to the department. I will be responsive by phone, email, or in writing, and staff will do likewise. I will make information more accessible, so people can better understand their assessments. I will meet regularly with community groups to explain department operations and listen to their questions and concerns, and will have appraisal staff meet with people and groups in their assigned areas.”

Staff has bought in to a culture of customer service. The Assessor and his office have been accessible as promised. Better information is available on a revamped departmental website. I meet extensively with community groups of all kinds.

Senior staff have joined me in a series of town hall meetings, but we have not had the budget to host  to public meetings with individual appraisers in their assigned areas.

“I will conduct a thorough performance audit and best-practice review. Many sources suggest there are ways to improve operations at the Department, and if a reform is intelligent and reasonable, it will be given serious consideration. Under today’s budget pressures, we must prepare to tighten our belts and work smart.”

The County provided no budget for a formal Performance Audit. We have requested one from the State Auditor, but SAO had other priorities this year.

We have reviewed critical aspects of the Department’s operations and revised many of them accordingly. We have established workload measures and put new accountability standards in place, satisfying a County Council budget proviso to that effect.

“I will actively educate, inform and notify those low-income seniors who may be eligible to defer property taxes. In light of King County’s high cost-of-living, I will fight for legislation to raise the current $35,000 income threshold for deferment.”

I met with numerous senior citizen groups, encouraged them to file for exemptions when eligible, and asked them to press their legislators for more generous income limits.

I met with key legislators in 2009 and 2010 regarding the $35,000 threshold, but was told it was out of the question due to the budget situation. The budget situation this year is much worse. I will look for future opportunities to make progress on this account.

“I will resolve disputed appraisals more quickly, so less taxpayers will be forced to depend on costly hired experts to make formal appeals.”

In 2011, the comparable sales we used to value their properties will be made available to homeowners who may be considering appeals. With this change from past practice, taxpayers will have more information to decide whether or not to file an appeal – saving themselves and the Department time and money.

“I will devote more resources to high-value, unique or complex properties, and less to common and low-value properties.”

We anticipate fewer residential appeals, and are allocating resources to give more attention to commercial and high-value properties. I have been meeting with trade groups to educate property owners about our valuation process.

“I will boost coordination between the Department, local governments, the real estate community, and King County Records, so as to gather the most accurate property data possible.”

I meet regularly with the North End Mayors, Green River Valley Mayors, the Highline Forum, Sammamish Valley Mayors, Eastside Mayors and the Suburban Cities Group. I regularly meet with commissioners and executives of fire districts, hospital districts and other special-purpose taxing districts.

We worked with all 39 cities to transmit building permit information, and we have completed this electronic handshake with about half of them.

Internal to County government, we work more closely with Records, Elections, and Treasury Departments, with the Tax Advisor, and with staff of the Board of Equalization.

“I will seek budgetary support from external agencies that depend on the office’s data, to bring in the revenue the Department needs to do the best job possible.”

This year, cities, school districts, fire districts and other special districts expressed support out of concern that we might have insufficient budget to meet our statutory requirements.  We are exploring sources of funding for technology upgrades that will benefit multiple taxing districts.

“I will give the staff opportunities to upgrade their skills and certifications, and earn advancement as they do. This will help us retain our most talented and experienced people.”

I am a strong believer in internal staff development through group and individual training. I have instituted new tests for hiring and promotion to improve our appraisers’ knowledge and skills. We recently promoted two people internally, and we’re looking to add people from other counties or the private sector.

“I will revive the internship program. It’s good for the Department and good for college students in related subject areas, and it’s time to bring it back into action.”

We are actively recruiting college interns to assist senior staff and help with research projects.

“I will usher the Department away from legacy computer systems developed in-house to more maintainable open systems, off-the-shelf where possible, to lower costs and lessen business risks.“

Our legacy systems are tied to the County’s legacy financial systems more closely than County administrators realized. This makes the Property Base System a high priority upgrade. We are now working with other counties to develop a joint RFP.

“I will coordinate more closely with the County Treasurer and Records Director on annual property tax administration, so taxpayers are taxed only their fair share and not a penny more.“

We meet at least quarterly (and usually more often) to improve coordination with Treasury, Records, Elections and Building (DDES) departments.

See www.LloydHara.com/#FiveMoreYears for key points to our agenda going forward, using 21st-century technology to improve our operations and benefit the public.

I invite you to contact me at citizensforhara@comcast.net to discuss plans for the year ahead — or for Five More Years in total if the voters honor me with reelection to a four year term 0n November 8, 2011.