Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Property Tax System topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Assessor warns county property-tax system needs multi-year replacement; seeks staffing and subscription funding
Summary
Assessor Rebecca Arnold told commissioners the county’s aging property tax system is at risk and recommended a three‑year replacement (estimated $4.5 million) with an FY26 initiation cost; she also requested a new assistant chief deputy position and discussed reallocating salary percentages between assessment and DMV functions.
Ada County Assessor Rebecca Arnold told the Board of Commissioners that the county’s property-tax and assessment software — developed in the 1990s — is fragile, under-resourced for maintenance and poses security and operational risks, and recommended a planned three‑year replacement costing in the range of $4.5 million.
Arnold said the assessor’s office completed a consultant review (Soft Resources) that solicited vendor proposals and produced a probable cost range for a modern, subscription-based assessment and property-tax platform. The assessor’s office proposed a FY26 initial allocation of about $937,000 toward the multi‑year project, and an ongoing FY26 software subscription request showcased elsewhere for $850,000. Arnold said the state has discussed a statewide system but that the timing and functionality would not meet Ada County needs and could leave the county subject to state-negotiated ongoing costs.
Staffing and other requests: Arnold requested creation of an assistant chief deputy position (with the option to allocate a portion of senior‑management salaries to motor-vehicle/DVM operations) to support succession planning and institutional knowledge transfer; she said many assessors’ responsibilities and a 39% county population increase since 2010 have left the office understaffed relative to workload.
Why it matters: The assessor said the property-tax system underpins county revenue, tax billing and reporting for taxing districts and is critical infrastructure: if it fails, county financial operations and taxing‑district reporting could be disrupted. She recommended immediate planning and a phased implementation rather than relying on uncertain statewide options.
Next steps: Arnold told commissioners the office had spent about $78,829 of an earlier $250,000 consultant authorization and projected another roughly $162,800 would be spent from that line before final vendor commitments. Commissioners will review the EOE/CIP request language and the proposed staff reclassification during budget deliberations.
