The Butte County Board of Supervisors is looking at using money from a PG&E settlement fund to update software at the Butte County Assessor’s Office.
The Assessor’s Office was hit in a multitude of ways after the 2018 Camp Fire, including spikes in ownership changes, appraisals and calamity applications. To top it off, the office is down by four full-time employees since the fire.
“This dynamic has created an overload of work on the existing staff, which has resulted in staff turnover and loss of institutional knowledge,” says a staff report to the Board of Supervisors, which will consider the matter Tuesday.
“In researching efforts to alleviate these issues, county administration recommends approval of a contract with Just Appraised Inc., which is a software developed for assessment functions. It enhances departmental workflow in performing change-of-ownership duties.”
The whole project would cost $218,839, and $68,839 of that would come from the PG&E settlement fund, created after the utility was faulted for its role in the fire. When the county first received the settlement funding, it came out to $206.5 million after attorney fees were taken out. The county has since pledged $89 million for 24 projects.
Because the uptick in service requests mostly stem from the Camp Fire and other wildfires, the county is looking to the settlement fund, which is designated for recovery efforts from the fire.
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