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Lake County assessor warns Tyler valuation methods skew property values; staff to evaluate software options
Summary
Assessor Mark described a troubled reappraisal cycle, data conversion problems and valuation methodology limitations in the county's Tyler CAMA/ERP system, and said the assessor's office is exploring alternative CAMA software and possible RFPs before the Tyler contract expires in 2025.
Mark, Lake County's assessor, told commissioners that the assessor's office inherited a problematic reappraisal and data conversion and that limitations in the county's current Tyler implementation have produced distorted land and improvement valuations in some areas.
Mark said the county's valuation model often uses a dollar-per-acre approach that can overstate land values in small-lot subdivisions or undercount features such as inferior views and topography. "Tyler does everything by dollar per acre," Mark said, adding that methodologic limits made it difficult to model building residuals correctly and required many manual overrides.
He described the 2023 reappraisal cycle as particularly difficult, with high protest volumes and data errors that required extensive manual correction and repeated interaction with auditors to reconcile sales files. Mark warned that some sales were validated incorrectly and that the assessor spent substantial time redoing sales files with auditors.
The assessor said the county's contract with Tyler was implemented in 2020 and is due to expire in 2025. He said he and county management plan to evaluate whether to re-bid the assessor's software contract or move the assessor office to a different CAMA system that better models local conditions. Mark and county staff discussed the costs of rewriting Tyler to accommodate the required models, and Mark said vendor development to do so would likely be more expensive than moving to specialized CAMA software.
Commissioners asked whether a countywide switch would be required if the assessor changed systems. County staff said the assessor could operate a separate CAMA system, but the procurement evaluation (RFP) would need to consider data transfer and compatibility with county financial systems.
Mark also discussed staff shortages and turnover in the assessor's office and said he had spent significant time defending values at county board of equalization hearings and cleaning up past errors. He said a new CAMA engagement this year will provide external modeling to address time-trend and neighborhood adjustments but that implementation and data conversion will require careful planning.
No formal procurement decision was made at the meeting; county leaders said the issue will be the subject of further review and formal procurement planning.
