Assessor reports successful occupancy‑roll timing change; Project Simpatico testing moves toward treasurer side

A representative identified in the meeting as Mr. Savage updated commissioners on the assessor office's occupancy‑roll timing and Project Simpatico on Jan. 7. Savage said the office successfully moved the occupancy roll timing back to November this cycle and met internal deadlines, posting the roll on the assigned date. "We met all of our internal deadlines, and we're able to veil on our assigned due date of Black Friday," Savage said, adding that the change produced a four‑week runway and set an appeals cutoff of Dec. 27.

Savage said the timing change reduced workload concentration in December and limited appeals: "We only had 1 appeal, out of 1,350-ish parcels," he said. He credited IT and staff for earlier balancing and called the shift a likely operating standard going forward.

On Project Simpatico — the assessor's system change — Savage said coding by vendor XTR is finished and tested on the assessor side. The treasurer's office remains to test downstream impacts, particularly abstract generation. "The big thing is when we implement this, we can't really go back because the data is gonna fundamentally change," Savage said, explaining the county must be sure it can generate statutorily required abstracts before full implementation.

Savage said he had initially offered to assist the treasurer with testing costs but concluded statute does not allow the assessor to expend funds for the treasurer's testing. He said the treasurer's office is reviewing a cost proposal from XTR for testing and that the assessor's office encourages the treasurer to proceed with independent testing.

No formal action was taken; commissioners received the update and were informed the assessor plans to adopt the new timing as the operating standard pending final testing and appeals resolution.