Press Information
For Immediate Release -- March 27, 2009
Andrew Koutsoukos
Phone: 415-381-1750
Email: andrew@boundarysolutions.com
Boundary Solutions, Inc.
BSI Article in IAAO Magazine March Issue States
Transparency Increases Property Tax Base Growth
Mill Valley, CA: At the International Association of Assessing Officials 2008 Annual Conference, a panel on open records facilitated by Boundary Solutions, Inc. responded to the question “Does unconstrained sharing of digital cadastral databases stimulate the economy?” The panel’s answer has been expanded into an article published in the March Issue of the IAAO Magazine, Fair & Equitable. According to BSI, analysis to date indicates that open record counties enjoy greater property tax base growth than closed record counties to be a finding robust enough to warrant further consideration. That transparency accelerates property tax base growth (total assessed value of all parcels in a county) is based on a National County Annual Report Database, NCARD is composed of 2,800 county (out of 3,140) annual report records as well as county-specific permit issuance activity and digital parcel map data sharing policy. NCARD is maintained by BSI for unconstrained use. Get NCARD Here (This is an .xls spreadsheet)
NOTE: Data sponsors, you are encouraged to review your county’s NCARD record gpt accuracy regarding annual report numbers, digital parcel map status (<250$, >$250, no map) CBSA assignment and total issued permits. Please contact BSI if you notice any errors or can provide updates. Adding 2007 is underway so any requested changes will make future property tax growth comparisons more accurate.
The time period studied is 2001-2002, the first five years that a lot of counties had a digital parcel map to share. Counties sharing their digital parcel maps during this period charging acquisition fees <$250 were categorized as “open records” and >$250 categorized as “closed records”. A comparison of average property tax base growth rates of all the counties in the open and closed categories shows a divide in property tax base growth, with open records pulling ahead of closed records over time. When only open and closed record counties with high permit activity were compared, the gap increased by 5%. Further, when no-map (most extreme closed record) counties were compared to open record counties, the gap jumps to %74, particularly astounding since the only no-map counties and open record counties in the sample both have populations of 5-50K and are not in a metro.
Reasons behind this property tax base growth gap are all speculative, but transparency does attract capital. Given a choice, investors are drawn to bright sunshine and away from dark and murky. Broad use of modern property records vastly reduces cost and increases quality of property transactions for the many, not just the few, driving up an area's desirability, hence value, hence property tax base. The end game is a seamless parcel map of the entire nation made possible by closed record counties going open record and no-map counties adding a map, both to enjoy the substantial fiscal benefits that unfold from broad use of digital parcel maps.
According to Dennis Klein, BSI President and CEO, “The reason for conducting this study was to give parcel GIS managers new ammunition to use at budget time to get all the money they need to adequately maintain and improve their digital parcel map programs. Now they can do this better by pointing to the very property tax base acceleration their map is causing. Just a tiny percentage of the associated general fund growth quickly dwarfs any revenues from exclusionary, economy suppressing, cost-recovery fees. For even faster results, make it easy to get, link in all common use tax roll attributes and promote the virtues of its broad use.” Read the entire article here: Click to download PDF
BSI is the custodian of the National Parcel Map Data Portal (NPDP™). As of October 2008, a total of 74 million parcelĘ boundary polygons from 620 jurisdictions are normalized and ready for download. Regardless of source format, all content is subjected to over 30 software driven modifications and metric recordings to assure universal internal consistency highly convenient geoserver loading. NPDP content is available as downloads from the NPDP FTP Site or on a transaction basis using ISC ParcelAtlas, r7 GeoRoom, Placebase Pushpin or ESRI ArcWebServices geoserver platforms. The USPTO awarded Boundary Solutions Inc. Patents 7,092,957 & 7,499,946, and 7,516,156 entitled “Computerized National Online Parcel-level Map Data Portal.” Claims include multi-state search to locate an address by displaying its corresponding digital parcel map boundary and the processing of change layer updates for the NPDP. The original provisional patent application was filed January 18, 2002. Boundary Solutions, BSI, Boundary Solutions logo, National ParcelMap Data Portal, NPDP, and Rooftop Accuracy are trademarks of BSI. All other trademarks and company names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.