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Arapahoe County assessor urges replacement of aging appraisal system, appraiser pay and mobile upgrades
Summary
Assessor’s Office asked commissioners to fund a modern appraisal system, purchase field tablets for appraisers and reconsider pay to retain licensed staff; office also proposed relocating from Altura Plaza to CenterPoint and buying deed-scraping software to reduce human error.
Cesar Kaiser, Arapahoe County Assessor, told the commission that the office’s most critical need is a modern mass-appraisal system and that the current CAMHIS/KEMA system is more than a decade old and limits field work and data accuracy.
"The assessor's office most critical need is the KEMA system, which is a massive appraising system, essentially," Kaiser said. Staff and deputies added that the current system went live roughly 12–13 years ago and that a replacement would improve field mobility and reduce manual errors.
Mike Williams, chief deputy assessor, said the office runs a small fleet of licensed appraisers and that retention of specialized staff is a top concern. Williams explained the training and licensure pipeline: many appraisers require several years and continuing education to reach higher licensure levels, and the county regularly competes with other counties that advertise higher pay. He noted the assessor's office currently employs about 28 licensed or certified appraisers and about 64 total staff, and said the current workload equates to roughly 14,000 residential parcels per appraiser.
To support field work, the assessor requested mobile tablets for field appraisers. Williams provided a per-unit estimate of about $800 for a tablet and about $33,400 total to equip roughly 38 field personnel, including protective cases. "For us to upgrade to tablets right now on that second bullet is an additional $800 per unit," he said. The office argued tablets would let appraisers capture photos and update property records on-site, increasing accuracy and efficiency.
Kaiser and staff also described a software product the office calls "Just Appraised," a deed-scraping tool that would import deed fields into the assessor database and reduce human entry errors. Kaiser said a title-clerk role could be repositioned to residential appraisal work if deed processing is automated.
On facilities, the assessor again proposed moving some functions from Altura Plaza back to CenterPoint, saying Altura’s HVAC, elevator and security issues — and repeated vandalism incidents reported in the building — make on-site work more difficult. The office has already returned several county fleet vehicles and said it could further reduce vehicle needs if operational changes continue.
Discussion vs. decision: commissioners requested more detailed quotes for a system replacement and asked staff to coordinate with IT and Facilities. No formal procurement or appropriation was approved at the session.
Ending: Commissioners asked the Assessor's Office to provide vendor and cost details, a phased implementation plan for system replacement, and a staffing/retention proposal for licensed appraisers as part of the 2026 budget process.
