Madera County OKs $1.775 million C3 AI contract to automate mass property appraisals

Assessor Matt Treiber told the Madera County Board of Supervisors on April 15 that the county will enter a five-year, $1,775,000 agreement with C3 AI Incorporated to implement an artificial-intelligence powered mass appraisal system covering residential, commercial and agricultural parcels.

The board voted 5-0 to approve the contract, authorize an upfront payment of $600,000 drawn from software automation fees and planning automation maintenance fees (or a combination with general government impact fees), and to fund annual maintenance costs of $235,000 from the assessor’s budget.

Why it matters: Treiber said the system will automate data ingestion and routine valuation tasks, freeing appraisers to focus on complex properties and helping the county produce more timely supplemental assessments. "This will end up saving my office, this next year, about $70,000 in net county cost," Treiber said during the meeting, naming quicker processing of new property data and faster supplemental billing as direct benefits.

Details of the procurement and pilot: Treiber described a pilot the county ran with C3 AI and Google that brought county data into the platform. He said the pilot cost the county $1 and Google about $250,000, and that the county negotiated a scaled purchase price because larger counties had already sponsored development. The board-approved agreement covers implementation and maintenance for a five-year term.

Staff and county officials said the software will remain paper-based in final ballots and valuation records will continue to be subject to human review and the county's existing appeals processes. Treiber described built-in checks: the system generates comparable-sales sets, likeness scores and photos; values that fall outside expected ranges are flagged for appraiser review. "There’s still human oversight in all of this," Treiber said.

Supervisors praised the approach. Supervisor Rogers said the system represents an innovative way to do more with fewer staff and called Treiber's work "incredibly efficient." Supervisor Wamhof said the county had negotiated an added benefit: C3 AI will perform a countywide needs analysis—valued, Treiber said, at about $250,000—to identify other county operations that might benefit from AI.

Questions and safeguards: Board members asked about appeals and transparency; Treiber noted the existing Assessment Appeals Board remains available and that the platform shows the comparables and scoring used to justify values. The assessor's office also said paper ballots and records tied to valuations would remain available for inspection and that the tool primarily automates data entry and analytics rather than making unreviewable, final decisions.

Next steps and funding: Alongside the contract vote, the board approved two budget actions to move $600,000 into professional services and to transfer $600,000 from the planning automation maintenance fee fund to pay the upfront cost. Treiber said ongoing maintenance of $235,000 per year will be absorbed in the assessor’s operating budget going forward.

What remains open: Treiber said modules for commercial and agricultural (ag) parcels are being developed and that the county’s use of the agricultural module will effectively pilot that capability for other jurisdictions. He also noted the system’s accuracy will improve over time as more local data are ingested.

The contract and related budget transfers were approved unanimously. The assessor's office and county finance staff will execute the agreement and implement the system under the terms approved by the board.