The Los Angeles Post

ASSESSOR WINS NATIONAL AWARD FOR INNOVATION

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LOS ANGELES, CA – The Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office has won the prestigious 2022 National Association of Counties (NACo.) Achievement Award for its cutting-edge Appraiser Training and Workforce Development programs.

This award was given as a result of the partnership with the Los Angeles Community College District, Rio Hondo Community College, Workforce Development Aging & Community Services, Department of Human Resources, and the Chief Executive Office, for the programs in real estate appraisal that provide the framework for lifelong pathways to success in government sectors. The award was in NACo’s category of Personnel Management, Employment and Training. 

“I am grateful and honored that our innovative programs have been recognized nationally and once again provide another example of how partnerships with private and public entities can and do work,” Assessor Jeff Prang said. “Also, and perhaps more germane, the two programs create a pathway to positions we need filled.”

Being the largest Assessor’s Office in the nation, running optimally with a total compliment of more than 700 appraisers, the Assessor’s Office needed to replace about 30 appraisers due to normal attrition through retirements, etc. There were some years, in fact, due to conditions beyond the Assessor’s Office control that classes could not be launched, and positions went unfilled increasing the workload and training demand in subsequent years.

The two new programs are set to rectify that dilemma. The first program is the appraiser training at West Los Angeles College. The goal here is to shift the Assessor’s in-house classroom training for basic appraisal principles to the college classroom.  Assessor staff will then be freed to focus on on-the-job training.  A secondary goal is to create interest in assessment appraisal and County careers by the college opening the courses to the general student population.  This will create a pool of candidates for future appraisal and other related positions.

The second is the Appraiser Assistant Training Program at Rio Hondo College. With the reintroduction of this position, this Assessor/College partnership reduces the time required to train appraiser assistants by providing job-essential assessment topics in the college classroom. This provides a direct pipeline of candidates for appraiser assistant positions, and careers with the Assessor’s Office while still providing opportunities for upward mobility.

“By building inter-departmental and local community partnerships, a pathway has been created to provide employment, career advancement opportunity, and build a diverse and inclusive County workforce,” Assessor Jeff Prang said. “It will further ensure that we can maintain an optimal level of personnel to do the important and necessary work of producing the annual Assessment Roll.”