Assessment Matters by Valuebase.co

20: Samantha Steele - Improving Assessment Practices in Cook County, Illinois

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In this episode, we're joined by Board of Review Commissioner Samantha Steele (and her Chief of Staff, Dan Balanoff) from Cook County, Illinois to talk about being an elected official, best practices, as well as new trends in the assessment field:

We cover:

  • Introduction to Assessment Matters podcast 00:00

  • Samantha’s (and Dan’s) background 00:23

    • Samantha’s background in real estate brokerage, real estate valuation, tax representation, and elected office

    • Important innovations 6:19

      • Working with old CAMA systems and moving towards upgrades

      • Automation to handle high volume (of appeals)

      • Moving towards automatic evaluation models 9:08

        • The need for more consistently updated data

        • Difficulties and challenges when properties are not consistently (re)delineated and reassessed

          • What is uniformity and why is it important? 11:46

            • Vertical vs horizontal equity

            • Long term plans 13:30

              • Property appraisal is a long-term project

              • Developing a better culture for the office

              • What drives the high number of appeals in Cook County? 15:10

                • Attorney requirements

                • Profit in the appraisal industry — bad incentives and lack of transparency

                • Overcoming a history of corruption and lack of government trust in Illinois

                • Parting advice 17:05

                  • Getting involved with IAAO

                  • How to reach Sam

                    • ...more
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                    Assessment Matters by Valuebase.coBy Will Jarvis