General Parameters Page 1 tab

Version 6.1

Overview

The Mass Appraisal General Parameters form contains parameters and options for configuring the Govern OpenForms Mass Appraisal system. These are divided across the following tabs:

• Page 1: Yearly Data, General Options, Increase / Decrease, and Transfer to Tax
• Page 2: Building, Income, and Land
• Page 3: Comparable Sales
• Pages 4 and 5: Buildings
• Page 6: Marshall & Swift

To access the Mass Appraisal General Parameters form:

1. Launch GNA.
2. Select Application Configurations > Mass Appraisal > General Parameters.

Documentation

To view this information in pdf format, click on the following link:
AdminGeneralParameters.pdf

Page 1 Parameters

Yearly Data

Year

CAMA parameters are saved by year. Select the year that you want to view or modify from the Year drop-down list.
When you open the MA General Parameters form, the year is automatically set to the current year for GNA. You can select a different year in order to view or modify parameters for that year. This is a requirement for appraisers who are working in multiple years at the same time.
Because the MA General Parameters form is opened in a separate window, you cannot view multiple versions of this form in multiple years at the same time. This is different from other forms that contain data saved by year. For these forms, you can open multiple versions at the same time. For example, the following screen shot shows multiple version of the A/R Class Codes form.

Depreciation Year

The Depreciation Year is used in calculating the depreciation of building structural elements and miscellaneous structures. The calculation is based on a table of percentages defined by the number of years that have lapsed. This is calculated by subtracting the actual or effective year the structure or element was built from the Depreciation Year. Refer to the Mass Appraisal Buildings and Miscellaneous Structures guides for further details.
The Depreciation Year can be the calendar year or any year from which you want to set up depreciation percentages.

Minimum Appraised Value

Enter a minimum appraised value for a property. The definition of Appraised Value depends on the Method in Use. This is selected on the Mass Appraisal Property Information form in Govern. See Mass Appraisal Property Information.

Options

Use Legal Description Property Type for Neighborhood Adjustments

Define this parameter according to how you want to set up neighborhood adjustments. The Neighborhood Adjustment applies to the building, miscellaneous structure, and land values. It is displayed on the following forms:

• CAMA Building Structural Elements and Features (BSE)
• Miscellaneous Structures
• Land Information

It can be based on a Property Type, such as residential, commercial, or industrial. The Property Types are defined in the user validation table VT_USR_PROPTYPE. They are associated with neighborhoods through the Mass Appraisal Neighborhood Validation Table. They are associated with appraisal values through the following Mass Appraisal Validation Tables:

• Building Use Code
• Miscellaneous Structure Code (MUSE)
• Land Use Codes

A Property Type is selected for the parcel on the Legal Information form in Govern.

• The Neighborhood Adjustment is applied to a Property Type if all the following conditions are met:
• The Neighborhood Validation Codes are set up by Property Type
• The Mass Appraisal Land Use, Building Use, or Miscellaneous Structures Use Code is set up by Property Type
• Use Legal Description Property Type for Neighborhood Adjustments is selected on the Mass Appraisal General Parameters form.

Otherwise, the Neighborhood Adjustment is not applied by Property Type.

Frozen Records

When you create an MA – Sales Information or MA – Audit Information record, a frozen record is automatically created. When a record is frozen, a copy of all the active CAMA records for the property are saved and assigned a Frozen ID. You can view the land, sales, income, building, and miscellaneous structures records, for the property at the moment the record was frozen. This is similar to having a series of snapshots of the property record.
You can continue to make changes to the property record after it is frozen. You can even have multiple frozen records for a property. Each time a record is frozen, a new frozen ID is assigned.
The current record is assigned the Frozen ID 0. Frozen IDs are updated differently according to whether the record is frozen from the Sales or from the Audit form. Sales information records have positive frozen IDs. The records frozen from the Audit form have negative frozen IDs in past years. A new Frozen ID is automatically assigned each time a record is frozen.
Records Frozen From MA_Audit
When you select the Value Finalized option on the MA – Audit form, a frozen record is automatically created. The first time the record is frozen, it is assigned Frozen ID -2. The next time, it is assigned Frozen ID -3, and so on.
Users can view frozen records by selecting the applicable year and Frozen ID in the History Panel, provided they have the required access permissions. Records from all Mass Appraisal forms can be viewed.
Access rights are required for viewing and modifying frozen records. These are defined in the OFD by selecting the Alternate type and then setting rights for the required Profile, Roles and Users. Refer to the Govern OpenForms Designer Guide (OFD) for details.
any of these forms, you can open all the forms listed under Forms with Frozen IDs on page 15 and view the data as they were at the time the record was frozen. For example, you could be updating a property and have open Fiscal Year 2015 with Frozen ID 0, but need to see the land record for 2013, Frozen ID -2.
To view records in past or future years:

1. Launch Govern.
2. Open a Profile that contains CAMA.
3. Open the required form.
4. Perform a search and load the required record to the form.
5. Select the History panel.
6. Double-click on the entry for the year and the Frozen ID you want to view.
7. Open the Forms Explorer and open forms that you want to view.
8. Open the History Panel again if you want to return to the year and Frozen ID that you had originally opened.

Closed Year / Certified Records

The Frozen ID -1 is a copy of the current or Frozen ID 0 record. It is created at the following times in order to preserve a copy of the original data:

• When you run the CAMA Close Year batch process
• When you create a Value Finalized MA – Audit record

This record is identified as Certified in the database and on the History Panel:

If the History for Current Year option is selected in Govern Admin, When you set an MA – Audit Information record to Value Finalized, Frozen IDs -1 and -2 are created at the same time.
If the History for Current Year option is deselected, Frozen IDs are not created in the current year.

Records Frozen From MA – Sales Information

When you create a sales record, from MA – Sales Information, a Frozen ID is automatically assigned. For sales records, Frozen IDs start at 1. They increase by 1 each time a sales record is created within the year. For example, if a property sells four times in a year, you would have four Frozen ID records, 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Frozen records are not created for the Sales Information or Audit Information forms. You cannot open the MA- Audit form as it existed in 2011 when the Sales Information was created and Frozen ID 1 was assigned.

Forms with Frozen IDs

When you create an MA – Sales Information record or set an MA – Audit Information record to Value Finalized, frozen records are automatically created for the following forms:

• CAMA – Property Information
• CAMA – Building Information
• CAMA – Building Structural Elements
• CAMA – Building Drawing or Drawing APEX
• CAMA – Building Area
• CAMA – Land Information
• CAMA – Income
• CAMA – Miscellaneous Structures
• CAMA – MRA
• CAMA – Sites
• CAMA – Values Override
• Property Control Property Area
• Property Control Legal Information

Summary

The following table lists the assigned IDs that appear in the Frozen ID field on the History Panel and on the Govern Ribbon. Note that this text box is used for Split Merge data as well as Frozen IDs:
Record Status Frozen and Other Assigned IDs
Current Record 0
Frozen from MA – Sales Information 1, 2, 3, 4…
Closed Year / Certified Record -1
Frozen from MA – Audit -2, -3, -4, -5…
Split Merged Data -32,766

Notes on Frozen Records

You cannot view the Sales Information record at the time a frozen record was created from the Audit form and vice versa, you cannot view the Audit Information record at the time the Sales Information record was created. Frozen records are not created for these forms when a Sales Information or Audit Information record is created or finalized.
A Frozen ID -1 record is not created if there is an open Split Merge record for the property for the year. No message is displayed.

Security for Frozen Records

The Alternate Security applies to Frozen Records. Users have access to view, update and delete frozen records according to the alternate security rights assigned for the form. For details about alternate security, refer to the Govern Security Manager guide.
You cannot change values saved under a Frozen ID, unless you have Super User rights or full access rights to the historical records. A new Frozen ID is automatically assigned each time a record is frozen.

Roll Forward Data

Select the Roll Forward Data option if you make modifications to records in earlier years that you want to carry forward to records in the future years that are open.
When making property appraisals you may need to have open the current fiscal year and several years in the future. For example, if the current fiscal year is 2015, you may have open 2016, 2017, and 2018. The configuration parameters and property records from 2015 are copied to the future years, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
If there is a change made in 2015, such as an extension to a porch, you can update the record for the year in which the change occurred and then roll the change forward to the future years, without having to open and modify each record. The changed field is copied from the current year to the future years. Structures that have not changed are not rolled forward.
In the following examplet, the current year is 2013. The user returns to 2010 and changes a record. A confirmation message appears each time you save a new record or modify an existing one when there are records for future or more recent years.

The message displays the records that are updated. This includes the current record.
When the confirmation record appears, do one of the following:

• Select Update Sales Data and click Yes to update the sales records along with the current modification.
  This updates the sales records for all Frozen IDs for the property in the same year, regardless of whether the change was made before or after the property was sold.
• Click Yes to roll the current modification forward.
  Newly created records, deleted records, and modified records are rolled forward.
• Click No if you do not want to roll the current modification forward.

The data are rolled forward if the CAMA Property Information record exists for the current parcel.

Typically, this record would be created when you open the new year. However, if it were deleted, the Roll Forward would not occur.

Data in the following Govern tables are rolled forward:

Govern Forms	Govern Tables
Property Area	PC_AREA
Legal Information	PC_LEGAL_INFO
Tax Real Estate Assessment	TX_RE_ASSESSMENT
Tax Assessment	AC_, BT_, PP_, MV_, RE_ASSESSMENT
Tax Exemptions	TX_EXEMPTIONS
Tax Levy Master	TX_LEVY_MASTER
Appraisal Property Information
Appraisal data	MA_MASTER
Building Drawing	MA_DRAWING
Building Area	MA_BLDG_AREA
Building Structural Elements	MA_BUILDINGS, MA_BUILDINGS_2, MA_BUILDINGS_3, etc.
Income	MA_INCOME
Land	MA_LAND
MRA	MA_MRA
Site Information	MA_SITE
Miscellaneous Structures	MA_MISC_STRUCTURES

 

Use Exemptions

You can apply real property tax exemptions directly to the land, building, miscellaneous structures, and income data records. This is useful when an exemption is applicable to a specific mass appraisal value rather than to the entire property.
Select the Use Exemptions option to add the Exemptions divider to the MA Land Information, MA Building Structural Elements, MA Miscellaneous Structures, and Income Data forms. You can then apply a full or partial exemption to any of these records. Refer to the specific Mass Appraisal guides for details.

Do Not Copy Expired Overrides to Next Year

Select this option if you do not want to copy the expired override values over to the next year, when you copy the default parameters.

Include Personal Property Assessment

Select this option to include personal property assessment data in the Mass Appraisal calculation. If this option is selected the values from the Personal Property adjustment tables are transferred to the MA_MASTER table.
To calculate the Personal Property Assessment, run the Appraised Value Computation process in Govern Batch Processing. Select Fast Compute Mass Appraisal Values. Then select Personal Property and click Process. See Appraised Value Computation on page 134 for details.

Increase / Decrease Option

Show Increase / Decrease Values
Select this option to display the Equalization Increase / Decrease, and when available, Physical Increase / Decrease values. See Increase / Decrease on page 109 for details.
Increase / Decrease Value Computation
If this option is selected, the Increase/Decrease value is calculated during the final year computation, and displays the information on the Values tab of the Property Information (Mass Appraisal) function form in Govern for Windows. The information is displayed in the Equalization Increase, Equalization Decrease, Physical Increase and Physical Decrease parameters. See Increase / Decrease on page 109 for details.

Transfer to Tax

Use the following options to set up the automatic transfer of Mass Appraisal values to the Real Property Tax Assessment subsystem.
Automatically Transfer to Tax
Select this option to transfer CAMA values to the tax module, automatically, when the MA – Audit Information record is saved finalized. Otherwise, if this option is deselected, values are transferred during the Mass Appraisal Values Computation batch process.
Assessment Value Based on Property Type Rates
Select this option to transfer appraised values at different rates, according to property type. Then, set the amounts to transfer using the Multiple Assessment Rates form. See Multiple Assessment Rates on for details.
Assessment Equalization %
Enter the percentage of the total appraisal value to transfer to the Real Property Tax sub-system.
This option is available if the Assessment Value Based on Property Type option is deselected

Do Not Transfer AG Credit to Tax
Select this option if you are not transferring the agricultural value to the tax sub-system with the other Mass Appraisal values. Refer to the user section of the Mass Appraisal Land guide for further details on the agricultural value.

Page 2 to 5 Parameters

Parameters found on the Mass Appraisal General Parameters Pages 2 through 5 are used for Building, Land, Income, and Comparable Sales data. Refer to the specific guides for details about completing these parameters.

Page 6 Parameters

The Page 6 parameters are required for Marshall & Swift data. Refer to the Marshall & Swift documentation for guidelines on completing these parameters.
Complete these parameters before running the Govern Batch Processes to export and import Marshall and Swift data.

 

 

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