Perry County officials question access, data workflows as assessor opens $378,240 four-year reassessment bid

Perry County commissioners heard a presentation and asked detailed questions about a $378,240 bid to perform the county's four-year cyclical reassessment, during a meeting on Sept. 16, 2025.

The bid presented by a representative identified as George from Tuggle Technologies described a four-year contract to reassess roughly 25% of the county's parcels each year, with the proposer recommending the total contract be divided evenly over four fiscal years so annual budgeting is consistent. The presenter said the new contract would not begin until May 1, 2026, and that the county's existing contract ends April 30, 2026 (the transcript stated 04/31/2026).

County officials pressed the presenter on how reassessors will handle different property classes and hard-to-access sites. The presenter said the work covers residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural property and must meet Department of Local Government Finance guidelines; industrial and larger commercial properties typically require more on-site time, while residential review is often handled by a single field appraiser assigned to an area.

Commissioners asked about field methods and technology. George said crews download county parcel maps to tablets and attach field updates to the county's record cards; the team uses aerial imagery tools such as oblique "Pictometry"-style photos and other third-party imagery providers, and can perform three-dimensional modeling for large commercial or industrial parcels in larger jurisdictions. Field data are collected in a Canvas-based app, uploaded as files, and then entered into the county's valuation software (referred to in the meeting as EdSoft/Xoft). The presenter confirmed that much of the final data entry is still performed manually by company staff because changes are parcel-specific and cannot be batch-uploaded.

Commissioners raised local concerns about leased cabins and campsites on riverfront parcels, noting that structures on leased land are sometimes recorded on the county tax roll under a separate identifier (the presenter described a set of parcel numbers that begin with "99" that are not plotted on the GIS layer). The presenter said those leased structures typically receive separate tax bills that may not appear on the standard real-property parcel map and suggested reporting questionable parcels to county staff for targeted review.

Officials also asked about staffing and how the vendor ensures local knowledge. The presenter said Tuggle's field teams use locally knowledgeable appraisers where possible and that for counties of Perry's size a small, focused crew can do the work; he estimated that the county's parcel inventory was on the order of roughly 16,000 parcels (stated in the meeting as "16,0xx, I think") and characterized total parcel inspections across the four-year cycle as tens of thousands of parcel touches.

Why it matters: cyclical reassessments affect taxable values used to set budgets and levy rates, and the choice of vendor and how the work is scoped can affect both short-term costs and the accuracy of property values used by the county.

The county did not take a formal vote on awarding the contract during the meeting; commissioners said they would review the bid documents and send specifications to county staff (Andrew) for further review and return the matter to a future agenda. County staff asked members of the public to report suspect parcels so staff can target them during the appropriate reassessment quarter.

Speakers quoted or referenced in this article include the meeting chair and commissioners (identified in the transcript only by role), George of Tuggle Technologies, and county staff members who participated in the discussion.

Proposed next steps mentioned at the meeting included staff review of the bid package and targeted follow-up on identified problem areas before work begins in the relevant reassessment quarter.