8.1.02 Release Notes

Released to Clients on 07/15/2009.

PACS Appraisal 8.1.02.13 (GA)

Exemptions

PACS Appraisal 8.1.02.11 (Limited)

Updates

Letter Processing

Released to Clients on 05/29/2009.

PACS Appraisal 8.1.02.10 (GA)

The following new and changed functionality is provided with this release.

Address Display

Owner and agent addresses now begin on the second line of a record’s Address section, and the first line has been labeled Add’l Name so that more space is available for a long name if required. This enhancement supports the new US Postal Service database requirement that is a prerequisite for postal discounts.

Appraisal Data Export

The Appraisal Data Export (File > Export > Appraisal Information) now includes Disabled Person Surviving Spouse (DPS) exemption data.

CASS Import

The standard CASS import has been changed so that address lines 1 and 2 from the West Texas Micrographics file are now mapped to address lines 2 and 3 in PACS.

Comparable Sales

• New options for selecting grids are now available in the Mass Print Grids activity (Tools > Comparable Property > Mass Print Grids). You can now select grids to print with a property ID list separated by carriage returns (the list can be copied from a source such as Microsoft Excel), with an agent list, or with a query either for property IDs or grid IDs.

  

• Taxpayer Evidence Reports (a right-click option in search results lists) can now be printed in ascending or descending sort order of your choice for residential and commercial sales and equity.

  

Mass Maintenance Updates on Future Year Layer

You now have the option to work in the future year layer for the activities available under Activities > Mass Maintenance.

Ownership History

When creating properties en masse (File > New > Mass Property Creation or Activities > Mass Create New Properties) or when splitting a property, ownership history options are now available:

Protest Groups

A new protest group feature is now available in PACS Appraisal, which you can use when searching for protests, and when you need to quickly schedule the protests within the group for hearings. When mass scheduling meetings or hearings, there are now options available to specify how to handle mass scheduling for protests within groups.

Restricted Timber

To support the appraisal of restricted use timber as outlined in the Sections 23.9801-23.9807 in the Texas Property Tax Code, restricted use timber valuation features are now available in the land details.

You can set up restricted use timber codes (Tools > Code File Maintenance > Land > Restricted Use Timber Codes) and apply them to the Productivity Valuation tab on the land detail (available from the property record’s Land tab).

After selecting Apply Productivity and TIM as the Use Code, you can select the Restricted Use Timber check box and choose a restricted use timber code from the Restricted Use Code drop-down list. Then you can enter the date of the timber harvest and in the Pre-Restricted Value field, the appraised value of the timber the year it was harvested.

When you choose Recalculate, the Restricted Use Value is calculated as 50% of either the market value or productivity value, whichever is less. If the Restricted Use Value less the Pre-Restricted Value is greater than zero, the Pre-Restricted Value is considered to be the timber use value and is displayed in the Tim Use/Mkt field on the Values tab in PACS. Otherwise, the timber use value is displayed in the Tim Use/Mkt field is the Restricted Use Value.

Signature Processing

Electronic signature processing features are now available for ARB inquiry and protest letters in conjunction with the use of the Topaz Signature Gem LCD 1X5 (T-L462) device.

What’s New in PACS Appraisal Documentation

• ARB Customization (Updated)
• ARB Protest Processing (Updated)
• CASS Imports (New)
• Comparable Sales (Updated)
• GIS (Updated)
• Mass Creation of Properties (Replacement of previous Mass Create Property Additions guide)
• Mass Maintenance (Replacement of previous Mass Maintenance & Mass Update guides)
• Mineral Import Procedures (Updated)
• Signature Processing for ARB Letters (New)
• Split Property Wizard (Updated)

PACS Collections 8.1.02.10 (GA)

The following new and changed functionality is provided with this release:

Appraisal Data Import

The Appraisal Data Import (File > Import > Appraisal Data) now includes Disabled Person Surviving Spouse (DPS) exemption data.

CASS Import

The standard CASS import has been changed so that address lines 1 and 2 from the West Texas Micrographics file are now mapped to address lines 2 and 3 in PACS.

Collections Balancing

A totals page for all entities has been added to the following month-end reports (Activities > Month End Procedures > Month End Reports): Delinquent Tax Roll (DTR) Totals, Year to Date Recap, Month to Date Recap, Fiscal Month to Date Recap, Fiscal Year to Date Recap. This enhancement decreases the effort involved in month-end balancing so that you no longer have to run a calculation for each entity.

Delinquent Notices

You can now print delinquent notices (Activities > Assessment > Delinquent Tax Functions > Print Delinquent Notice) for multiple property IDs or multiple owner IDs by using the following data as selection criteria: a list of comma-separated property IDs, a list of comma-separated owner IDs, or a SQL query designed to retrieve property ID.

Reports

• Collections Recaps Reports-(DTR Totals, MTD Recap, YTD Recap, FMTD Recap, FYTD Recap) – These reports, available from the Print Collection Recaps Reports dialog box (Activities > Month End Procedures > Month End Reports), now include a section at the end of the report that lists totals for all of the selected entities. This enhancement improves the efficiency of month-end balancing. The following figure is an example of the enhancement:

  

• Modified Bill Report – This report (Reports > Collections > Modified Bill Report) now includes a Totals Only option that prints a summarized report with an overview of totals.
• Refund Paid Report – This report (Reports > Collections > Refund Paid > Report) now includes a Totals Only option that prints a summarized report with an overview of totals.
• Rollback Report – A new rollback report is available (Reports > Rollback > Rollback Recap Report) to review collections activity for rollback bills.
• Tax Collections Activity Report – By Year – This report (Reports > Collections > Daily > Tax Collections Activity Report – by Year) now provides totals by year and entity for each column on the report.

What’s New in PACS Collections Documentation

• Delinquent Notice Processing (Updated)
• Levy Roll and Tax Statement Procedures (Updated)
• Litigation Processing (Updated)
• Mass Post Refunds (Updated)
• Supplement Processing Collections (Updated)