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Madison Heights to replace county assessor services with Assessment Administrative Services LLC; three-year contract approved
Summary
Council voted to end the county assessing contract and award assessment services to Assessment Administrative Services LLC, a three-year agreement that staff say is within the current budget and will begin July 1.
Madison Heights City Council voted May 12 to terminate its assessing services contract with Oakland County and award a new three-year contract to Assessment Administrative Services LLC (AAS) beginning July 1, pending final legal review.
Staff said the selected option (Option 2) will provide one day per week of on-site staffing plus an additional 16 hours per month from a certified assessor, remote availability and field-work support. The first-year flat fee in the proposal is $229,980, with a 4% annual increase thereafter. Staff also advised there will be additional, separate costs to migrate the city to local BS&A equalization software.
Council members criticized the late notice and the magnitude of the county’s proposed increase, saying Oakland County initially proposed a much larger jump in fees. Speakers described a county board amendment that smoothed the increase into a smaller first-year hike (described by staff as about 25%) with back-loaded costs in years two and three; councilors said the county’s originally proposed multi-year increases would have raised the city’s costs into the $400,000–$500,000 range in later years. By contrast, the AAS proposal provides the stated level of service for a lower flat fee within the city’s current budgeting assumptions, councilors said.
Council approved the contract award and authorized the city manager and city attorney to finalize the agreement, contingent on legal review. Staff told council the transition should be seamless and that residents will see more frequent local staffing to handle assessment questions than the city received under county service. Council’s recorded vote on the action was 6-0.
Implementation steps include final contract execution, migration planning for the BS&A software, and a public notification to residents that assessing services will be local starting July 1.
