The Mecklenburg County Assessor’s Office said Friday it has hired veteran tax administrator and appraiser Kimberly Horton as the county’s new revaluation manager. She replaces Chuck Hicks, who retired April 1 after 23 years.

The assessor’s office has been under fire for the past year amid complaints about the 2011 property revaluation. Taxpayers in some parts of the county, including Cornelius, have complained of errors and inaccurate reassessments. Citizens mounted a campaign for an independent review, and Mecklenburg County Commissioners voted in May to hire an outside firm to take a look at the 2011 revaluation.

Ms. Horton, who started this week, is the former tax administrator in Chatham and Alamance counties. She has 18 years’ experience in mass appraisal of real property and has served on committees with the North Carolina Association of Assessing Officers and the International Association of Assessing Officers.

[Mass appraisal is the method Mecklenburg County used in the last revaluation. That approach analyzes market sales data to come up with "valuation factors" that are then applied to properties en masse. (See the county's video explanation of the process.]

Ms. Horton has a business management degree from Central Carolina Community College and is certified as a N.C. Department of Revenue Real Property Appraiser and N.C. Association of Assessing Officers CNCA appraiser. She also holds CAE designation from the International Association of Assessing Officers.

RELATED COVERAGE

See previous coverage of the 2011 Mecklenburg County Revaluation under the “revaluation” tag