Burke County task force reviews CAMA data, accepts sales list to inform 2027 revaluation

The Burke County Tax Revaluation Task Force on Tuesday reviewed the county’s computer‑assisted mass appraisal (CAMA) process and accepted the sales dataset staff will use to shape the 2027 revaluation.

The task force’s presenter, identified in the meeting as Namrida, showed how CAMA breaks property value into land, building and miscellaneous improvement components and how those components are applied across market areas to produce assessed values. "We have 60,000 parcels in Burke County," the presenter said during the demonstration, underscoring the scale of the revaluation task.

Why it matters: the schedule of values the county adopts for 2027 will change how assessments are calculated for tens of thousands of parcels and therefore affect individual tax bills. The presenter told the group the tax office has identified 4,700 qualified arm’s‑length sales to use as the market basis for adjustments; of those, 229 were commercial/industrial and 4,493 were residential, and the presenter reported a median per‑square‑foot sale price of 153.

The presenter demonstrated the CAMA software view used by staff and walked the task force through an example parcel (REID 18543) to show how schedule rates, size adjustments and depreciation combine into a replacement‑cost baseline. The presentation emphasized two technical steps staff are taking next: "trending" (adjusting sales for time) and "clustering" (grouping market areas to ensure adequate sample sizes for areas with few sales).

The presenter also reviewed sales‑ratio findings from 2023 compared with current sales: vacant‑land median ratio was reported at 0.86 and improved parcels at 0.79, a difference staff said indicates where the county’s schedule of values will need larger adjustments. The presenter described how market‑area adjustments and size adjustments will be used to bring assessed values closer to market values in the 2027 schedule.

Board procedural actions: the vice chair moved, and Evan seconded, a motion to accept the list of sales staff identified for the revaluation; the motion was moved and seconded and no objections were recorded on the transcript. The chair then asked for and received a motion to accept Namrida’s presentation; that motion was also seconded. Earlier in the meeting the board approved the agenda and previously distributed minutes (a motion by Ed and seconded by Tim to approve minutes was recorded).

What remains: staff said clustering work would be finished in the coming week and that vacant‑land pricing would be ready to share with the group in January; the task force is scheduled to meet next on 01/06/2026 at 9:00 a.m. The presenter stressed staff will continue refining market‑area and size adjustments before the final schedule of values is proposed.

Quotes from the meeting capture the technical emphasis and scale of the project: "It's a system that's driven by the market," the presenter said, and later, "the sales ratio is really important because it's going to show us what needs correction in 2027." The chair closed the meeting after welcoming the two new members and recording the adjournment.

Notes on sources and uncertainty: several terms and spellings of the appraisal system appear in the transcript (CAMA, Grama, CAMERA); this article uses the standard term CAMA (computer‑assisted mass appraisal) to describe the county's mass appraisal system. The presentation transcript lists an "average" value that reads as "$1.61" (SEG 837); that appears to be truncated in the record and should be verified against the county's raw sales files before being used as a budget or policy figure.