Join host Will Jarvis at the Missouri Assessors' Conference in Branson as he sits down with Bob Boyer, Jefferson County Assessor, to discuss the challenges of personal property tax in Missouri, the push for e-filing and digital modernization, and efforts to reform outdated valuation statutes. Bob shares how his background as a land surveyor and county councilman shaped his approach to running a 32-person office, explains the complexities of the Hancock Amendment and levy rollbacks, and offers his perspective on fighting dark store theory and bogus appraisal claims. As Bob puts it, property taxes are like a big piece of pie — somebody's gonna eat it, and his job is making sure the burden is shared fairly.

• 00:00 - Introduction and welcome from the Missouri Assessors' Conference in Branson
• 00:36 - Bob Boyer's background: Jefferson County Assessor, former county councilman, land surveyor, and licensed real estate appraiser
• 01:00 - Transitioning from county council to the assessor's office and learning how the office operated
• 03:00 - How land surveying experience with deeds, plats, and GIS mapping carried over to the assessor role
• 04:00 - Implementing e-filing for personal property assessments and reducing paper-based processes
• 06:00 - The personal property tax debate in Missouri: why elimination is difficult and how education helps
• 09:00 - Policy reform: the Hancock Amendment, levy rollback loopholes, and the push for legislative fixes
• 11:30 - The behavioral economics of visible vs. invisible taxes: personal property versus real estate escrow
• 14:00 - Reforming vehicle valuation: moving from JD Power trade-in values to MSRP-based depreciation schedules
• 17:00 - Real estate valuation in a non-disclosure state: cost approach, ratio studies, and staying in compliance
• 20:45 - The future of the profession: dark store theory battles, tax exemption challenges, and protecting residential taxpayers
• 23:45 - Advice for newly elected assessors: observe, learn from experienced staff, and be the head cheerleader for your office
• 25:15 - Where to find Bob Boyer: jeffcomo.gov/assessor and Facebook

Join host Will Jarvis as he sits down with Neal Groover, Chief Appraiser of Effingham County, Georgia, to discuss his journey from a three-person office in rural Evans County to managing a 33,000-parcel operation in a fast-growing bedroom community near Savannah. Neal shares lessons learned transitioning commercial properties from cost to income approaches, the impact of Port of Savannah expansion on warehouse development, navigating Georgia's 40% assessment rate, and why the growing tangle of homestead exemptions has turned his department into a homestead audit shop.

• 00:01 – Introduction and Neal Groover's path into assessment work in rural Evans County, Georgia
• 01:02 – Running a three-person office with 6,500 parcels: splitting duties and learning by trial and fire
• 02:54 – The biggest surprise: how heavily law governs the assessment world
• 04:30 – Transitioning from Evans County to Effingham County and the differences between rural and medium-sized jurisdictions
• 06:05 – Valuing warehouses: moving from cost to income approach and tips for making the transition
• 09:00 – Port of Savannah's expansion as the driver behind Effingham's warehouse boom
• 10:49 – Explaining ratio studies to taxpayers and Georgia's 40% assessment rate
• 14:48 – The exemption mess: how homestead exemptions muddy the waters and undermine fairness
• 19:45 – Effingham as a "homestead audit department" — managing 15,500 homestead parcels
• 20:32 – Advice for new chief appraisers: know what you're getting into and commit fully

Join host Will Jarvis as he sits down with Mike Fouassier, Assessor for the Town of Ossining in Westchester County, New York, and former Director of Operations and Quality Assurance for New York City. Mike brings a unique "pracademic" perspective — holding a PhD focused on inequities in assessment systems — as they discuss why frequent reappraisals at full market value matter, how transparency and public education underpin the legitimacy of the property tax, and the role AI and geospatial tools are playing in modernizing assessment offices. The conversation also explores the talent pipeline challenge facing local government, the management differences between large and small jurisdictions, and Mike's advice for building technology that starts with the assessor's real problems.

• (00:01) Meet Mike Fouassier — his path from New York State to NYC to the Town of Ossining, and how an "accidental career" in assessment became a lifelong calling
• (02:25) The biggest inequities in property tax: assessment caps, rising costs of living, and why frequent reappraisals at 100% of full market value is Mike's top reform
• (05:36) Transparency and public education — why the legitimacy of the property tax depends on assessors meeting homeowners where they are, not just on grievance day
• (06:49) The case for the local property tax as the fairest tax: local buy-in, participatory governance, and why paying locally gives citizens a voice
• (11:56) Technology and AI in assessment — from NYC's 3D mapping portal to using AI to produce preliminary appraisals in a fraction of the time
• (14:52) Managing large vs. small offices: hiring, retention, budgets, and the talent pipeline challenge of getting young people to discover careers in assessment
• (17:25) Advice for gov-tech companies: start with the assessor's problems, not out-of-the-box solutions, and why hands-on, in-office partnerships matter
• (22:08) What Mike would tell his younger self — the larger world of assessment administration and how to find the Town of Ossining's equity portal