The Orange County Board of Commissioners directed staff on Aug. 26 to form a Tax Assessment Work Group to advise a consultant on reviewing assessment policies, procedures and communications after the county's 2025 revaluation produced a surge in appeals and neighborhood-level sales-ratio anomalies.

Why it matters: The county's 2025 reassessment generated substantially more appeals than in 2021, and staff produced countywide and neighborhood-level equity analyses to measure how assessed values tracked market sales. The analyses identified several neighborhoods for closer review. Commissioners said they want an outside expert to evaluate the assessment process and recommend improvements while the county continues to complete current appeals and neighborhood reviews.

What staff reported: County staff said the county's sales bank for residential properties contained about 5,800 qualified arm's-length sales; roughly 950 were removed as statistical outliers during analysis. Staff reported 944 appeals still pending and 114 informal appeals that could become formal appeals. The tax office identified 86 neighborhoods with statistical measures outside set ranges and planned a closer review of 76 neighborhoods to determine whether assessed values should be adjusted. Staff also cited the International Association of Assessing Officers standard that an acceptable price-related differential (PRD) range is 0.98 to 1.03; the tax office found one building type (two- to four-family units) with a PRD out of range that will receive special attention.

Board action and scope: The work group is to evaluate "the policies, processes, procedures and communication plan used by the Orange County Tax Office to assess property values and communicate these with the public," provide milestone feedback to the consultant, and participate in vendor selection and recommendation development. Commissioners agreed the group should be nimble but broad enough to include community voices. The board nominated three commissioners to the work group: Commissioner Earl Fowler, Commissioner Portia Ascott and Commissioner Carter (absent); staff will open a short public application to fill community seats and expect to name community representatives after a recruitment window.

Who will be involved: Proposed work-group membership includes three commissioners, the county manager, the tax administrator and budget director, county civil-rights/civic-life staff, a community relations representative, invited local assessor representatives, and community and advocacy seats (tax justice coalition, housing nonprofit, and four community representatives, two from each commissioner district). On Aug. 26 the board confirmed several potential community members: Hudson Vaughn (housing coalition contact), Charice Alt-Austin (Property Tax Justice Coalition contact), Dolores Bailey (nonprofit housing provider) and an identified alternate; staff will circulate an advisory-board application and set a recruitment deadline for community nominees.

Next steps and timeline: Staff said they will issue an RFP for a consultant to analyze the assessment process; commissioners debated whether the new work group should review the RFP before it is released. The board voted that the work group should review the RFP scope before execution. Staff also said they will contract supplemental appraiser staffing to expedite the current neighborhood-level reviews and expect those reviews to be complete by mid-November.

Background numbers cited by staff: the county had about 5,800 qualified residential sales in the sales bank; about 950 outliers were removed from analysis; 944 appeals remained pending as of the meeting; the tax office flagged 86 neighborhoods by statistical measure and planned close review of 76 neighborhoods. Staff said if values change because of the neighborhood review, property owners get 15 days to appeal and refund or additional bill calculations follow statutory process.

Ending note: Commissioners emphasized speed and transparency, asking staff to publish clear updates to the public while the work group and consultant proceed. The board set a deadline for community applications (target: Sept. 30) and aimed to select community representatives at a future meeting in early October.