HomeMy WebLinkAboutFollow-up of Assessor's Office - Property Tax RollFollow-up report on Assessor’s Office - Property tax roll #11/12-9 June 2012
FOLLOW-UP REPORT
Assessor’s Office - Property tax roll
(Internal audit report #10/11-5 issued July 2011)
To request this information in an alternate format, please call (541) 330-4674 or send email to David.Givans@Deschutes.org .
Deschutes County,
Oregon
David Givans, CPA, CIA
Deschutes County Internal Auditor
1300 NW Wall St
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 330-4674
David.Givans@Deschutes.og
Audit committee:
Michael Shadrach, Chair - Public member
Chris Earnest - Public member
Gayle McConnell - Public member
Jean Pedelty - Public member
Greg Quesnel - Public member
Jennifer Welander - Public member
Anthony DeBone, County Commissioner
Tom Anderson, Community Development Director
Scot Langton, County Assessor
Follow-up report on Assessor’s Office - Property tax roll #11/12-9 June 2012
TABLE OF
CONTENTS:
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background ………………………………………...………………......................... .......... 1
1.2. Objectives & Scope ……………………………………..…………………………. …….… 1
1.3. Methodology ……………………………………………………..…………………… .……. 1
2. FOLLOW-UP RESULTS ……………….…...………………………….............................. 2
3. APPENDIX I – Internal Audit Recommendations - Updated Workplan for
Report #10/11-5 (Status updated as of June 2012) ........…….…...……….......... ...... 3-5
Follow-up report on Assessor’s Office - Property tax roll #11/12-9 June 2012
Page 1
1.
Introduction
1.1 BACKGROUND
Audit Authority:
The Deschutes County Audit Committee has suggested that follow-ups occur from nine months to one
year after the original report issuance. The Audit Committee’s would like to make sure departments
satisfactorily address recommendations.
1.2 OBJECTIVES and SCOPE
Objectives:
The objective was to follow-up on the audit recommendations in the report.
Scope:
The follow-up included eight (8) recommendations from the internal audit on Assessor’s Office - Property tax
roll (#10/11-5) (issued July 2011).
The follow-up reflects the status as of June 2012. The original internal audit report should be referenced for
the full text of recommendations and discussion.
1.3 METHODOLOGY
The follow-up report was developed from information provided by the Assessor’s Office. In cases where
recommendations have not been implemented, comments were sought for the reasons why and the timing
for addressing these. The follow-up is, by nature, subjective. In determining the status of recommendations
that were followed up, we relied on assertions provided by those involved and did not attempt to
independently verify those assertions.
The Assessor’s Office has been responsive and should be acknowledged for the movement on these
recommendations.
Since no substantive audit work was performed, Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller
General of the United States were not followed.
DESCHUTES COUNTY
INTERNAL AUDIT
REPORT
DESCHUTES COUNTY
INTERNAL AUDIT
REPORT
DESCHUTES COUNTY
INTERNAL AUDIT
REPORT
Follow-up report on Assessor’s Office - Property tax roll #11/12-9 June 2012
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2.
Follow -up
Results
Figure I -
How were
recommenda-
tions
implemented?
The follow-up included eight (8) recommendations in the report. There were no disagreements with management
on the recommendations.
Figure I provides an overview of the implementation status of the eight (8) recommendations that were accepted
by management. The detail of the updated workplan is provided in Appendix I.
With this follow-up, 75% of the accepted recommendations are complete or addressed. The distinction with
“addressed” as the status is that the department has made a good faith effort to complete these and has
determined that no additional work can be performed or that it will be re-assessed in the future. The nature of the
recommendations makes this status acceptable. The overall effort is good considering the nature of these
recommendations.
Follow-up report on Assessor’s Office - Property tax roll #11/12-9 June 2012
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3. Appendix Appendix I –Updated Workplan for Report #10/11-5 (Status as of June 2012)
Rec# Recommendation Agreement Status Due Date Department Updated Comments
1 It is recommended, if cost permits,
for the Assessor’s Office to explore
whether the system data could be
made accessible to reconcile in
total the changes occurring. The
access to the change data would
also provide an opportunity to
identify controls over different types
of changes.
Agree Addressed This concept was discussed with Helion Software and
discussed at the ORCATS user meeting. Though
seen as beneficial this item was seen as less important
in programming needs then other outstanding items.
Additionally ORCATS/Helion is looking at changing the
organizational structure so a complete rewrite of the
software can occur. At some future yet to be defined
point in time when the specifications for the rewrite is
complied it is our hope that this item be addressed.
2 It is recommended for the
Assessor’s Office in collaboration
with the State of Oregon determine
if additional procedures could
improve coordination of these
centrally assessed accounts.
It is recommended that locally
assessed properties for each
centrally assessed corporation be
reviewed to see if they are
appropriate.
Agree Addressed The specific account identified in this audit was used
for discussion with the Oregon Department of Revenue.
The DOR is aware of the issues and will continue to
monitor; they've also indicated that they are looking at
ways internally within the DOR to better communicate
and work with the counties
3 It is recommended for the
Assessor’s Office to document its
operating policies and procedures.
The procedures should emphasize
the areas of operation, and
supervision. These policies and
procedures should be available to
all employees and should include,
in detail, the responsibilities of each
employee.
Agree Underway 7/1/2013
4 It is recommended for the
Assessor’s Office to validate their
detail reports to the frozen tax roll.
Agree Completed
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Rec# Recommendation Agreement Status Due Date Department Updated Comments
5 It is recommended for the
Assessor’s Office and Tax
Department to periodically review
the level and extent of access rights
provided.
Agree Completed The policy has been added to also notify Helion to
remove access to programs when personnel no longer
work for the county.
5.1 It is also suggested for users with
significant rights that there be some
method to reviewing the nature and
type of changes made.
Agree Completed We will continue the practice of our annual audits by
user and voucher type. In addition prior year roll
changes are made by a data entry staff, reviewed by
the Assessment Manger and then reviewed again and
the notice signed by the Assessor. This same logic is
done at the end of each year. The initial annual audits
are made by the Assessment Manger and then the final
audit is made by the Assessor.
6 It is recommended for the
Assessor’s Office to analyze and
utilize performance measures using
the actual results of operations.
Agree in
part
Addressed We explored looking at actuals vs. budgeted numbers
from the comparison counties. We have the following
concerns over – The timeliness of that data for use in
our budgeting cycle. Audited numbers would not
contain current year information. Secondly the
consistency and availability of other counties
information. Currently these figures and measures are
from the Oregon Department of Revenue from the
annual CAFFA grant that each county submits to the
State. Unfortunately the Dept of Revenue does not
look back to audited amounts and instead only use
budgeted figures for these grants. We will continue to
monitor and if at what point we can get consistent and
readily available audited figures we will look at
incorporating into our budget process
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Rec# Recommendation Agreement Status Due Date Department Updated Comments
7 It is recommended the Assessor’s
Office develop a plan to complete
their conversion/upgrade from the
property jacket system to an
electronic based system in a timely
manner.
Agree Underway Part 1 -
10/15/2012
Part 2 -
9/1/15
98% of the diagram cards and photos have been
scanned. We have 8 drawers left and it takes an
average of 2 days per drawer working full time for 1
person. This was our initial project of moving away
from using the jackets. At that time we thought we
could use laptop computers and would no longer need
the appraisal cards. When that option did not work out
we decided to scan in the old appraisal cards and have
the appraisers make changes and scan the finished
cards in for history. The pilot project with the City of
Redmond took 2 staff five months in addition to there
normal duties. We will now need to go back and scan
all of the appraisal cards. We have approximately
76,560 improved accounts, with the City of Redmond
scanned we are estimated to be 2 percent complete.
Our final step will be to review the accounts the outside
vendor scanned as we have found some accounts that
did not get the all of the photo scanned in. There are
78 of these drawers but will go fast since they are just
being reviewed and should have minimal scanning. We
will complete our first part of this project, images and
diagrams before fall. Staff says if they are just
scanning images they can scan 400 images a day,
which would take 1 staff person 9-10 months to
complete if the scanned full time. We currently have 3
staff, scanning during slow times and project
completion in 2-3 years.
{END OF REPORT}