SUPERVISOR ASSESSMENT & ANALYSIS

at  City of Toronto

Job ID: 47338
Job Category: Finance, Accounting & Purchasing
Division & Section: Revenue Services, RevSvcs Property Taxation & Assessment
Work Location: North York Civic Centre, 5100 Yonge St.
Job Type & Duration: 1 Permanent Full Time Vacancy
Salary: $93,734.00 - $123,449.00, TM1327, Pay Grade 6.5
Shift Information: 35 hrs per Week per week
Affiliation: Non-Union
Number of Positions Open: 1
Posting Period: 23-Jul-2024 to 14-Aug-2024

KEY QUALIFICATIONS:

• Considerable experience in dealing with issues of property assessment and taxation, for purposes of defending the City’s assessment base, in a large public or private organization.
• Experience acting as a witness at the Assessment Review Board and other related courts and tribunals in support of the City’s position.
• Experience hiring, training, scheduling, and supervising staff including monitoring performance in a service oriented, politically sensitive environment.
• Experience with MS Office (e.g. Word, Excel, Power Point and Access), as well as Revenue Management systems such as TMACS and WMACS.
• Proficient in supervisory competencies including teamwork, facilitation, communications, conflict resolution, problem solving, crisis management and team leadership in projects and assignments.
• Ability to establish effective working relationships with all stakeholders, employees, client divisions, external agencies and/or politicians and other levels of government.
• Strong research, analytical, conflict resolution, problem solving and negotiation skills with the ability to develop and recommend effective solutions.
• Advanced oral and written communications skills with the ability to write extensive reports accompanied with graphical and statistical information, and to prepare, organize and present business cases, proposals, solutions and financial impacts or similar formal documents and statements to various audiences, including taxpayers and/or their representatives, members of Council and senior management.
• Ability to organize projects, meet deadlines and complete work in a timely manner with minimal direction.
• Ability to apply innovative municipal business management practices and underscoring principles, with emphasis on process improvement, quality assurance, and/or performance measurement systems.
• In depth knowledge of legislation and regulations relating to the Assessment Act, the City of Toronto Act and Freedom of Information Act.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and to set priorities, plan and execute tasks.
• Ability to exercise independent judgment and discretion in dealing with sensitive and confidential matters
• Knowledge of the Occupational Health & Safety Act and Regulation, Collective Agreements, and related Employee and Labour legislation

• Supervises, motivates and trains assigned staff, ensuring effective teamwork, high standards of work quality and organizational performance, continuous learning and encourages innovation in others
• Supervises day to day operation of all assigned staff including scheduling, assigning and reviewing of work. Authorizes and coordinates vacation and overtime requests. Monitors and evaluates staff performance, approves salary increments, hears grievances and recommends disciplinary action when necessary
• Researches, recommends and implements key criteria aimed at achieving the City’s strategy regarding the defense of its assessment base
• Researches, formulates, recommends, and implements City’s policies for auditing the assessment roll on long-term and short-term basis to protect the City’s revenue base
• Develops financial models to identify emerging issues, highlights trends, areas of concern and analysis outcomes and issues.
• Oversees assessment/appraisal analysis function, recommends solutions, initiates corrective actions and prepares financial impacts/reports/briefing notes/correspondence for Senior Management, Agencies, Boards, Commissions and/or Council. Works with Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), arbitration lawyers, consultants and taxpayers to resolve group appeals problems
• Identifies and mitigates risks by monitoring, prioritizing, and acting on behalf of the City on assessment appeals.
• Initiates and participates in Assessment and Taxation Appeals and follows through in terms of administration, reporting to Council, scheduling, and hiring external consultants
• Represents the City in a variety of situations, including negotiations with taxpayers
• Performs compliance audits on Minutes of Settlement processed by Municipal Property Assessment Corporation. Initiates any objections on behalf of the City to take corrective action, reviews alternative settlements and recommends approvals to the Treasurer and/or his designates
• Reviews Statements of Issue filed with the Assessment Review Board with respect to various assessment appeals, researches and prepares Statements of Response along with other supporting documentation intended to defend the City’s position
• Represents the City at the Assessment Review Board and other Tribunal Boards and acts as an expert witness as necessary
• Assists in the preparation of the City’s defense in relation to appeals where the City is an active participant or where the City is the appellant. Works closely with the City’s Legal Division on litigation matters related to assessment, conducts necessary investigations, compiles supporting documentation, provides briefings when necessary and recommends strategies intended to provide positive outcomes for the City
• Monitors and reviews zoning changes to properties processed by the City’s Planning Division, evaluates assessment implications and communicates same to MPAC thus improving values of land and buildings to increase the City’s revenue
• Reviews and interprets the City’s Official Plan, Secondary Plan, development planning reviews, and zoning by-laws to co-ordinate the development activity and to ensure that the tax classes/values of properties are consistent with the land use and the zoning permissions
• Maintains awareness of planning developments, stays current with on-going construction projects and monitors real estate market changes to ensure appropriate assessment is reflected on the assessment roll
• Conducts analysis of the City’s assessment in order to recognize assessment growth from market trends, errors, and anomalies and liaises with MPAC to confirm actual growth for the City’s assessment base. Prepares reports/briefing notes to Council regarding assessment growth
• Reviews, analyzes, and integrates legislation affecting municipal assessment policies and identifies gaps. Documents issues and advocates changes as appropriate to senior management and Council
• Ensures work practices conform to relevant policies and procedures, legislation and regulations, including Assessment Act, City of Toronto Act, Assessment Review Board’s Rules of Practice and Procedure, other related Provincial Bills, GAAP, Appraisal Techniques and Assessors Manuals
• Ensures compliance with Assessment Act, Planning Act, City of Toronto Act, other regulations, and Corporate policies and procedures in reviewing and recommending settlements where the City is involved.
• Identifies emerging issues, reacts to unplanned opportunities or crises and effectively gathers relevant background information on a wide range of City issues, often high profile, for Council and/or Treasurer
• Oversees through effective dispute resolution complex, highly sensitive and confidential issues with emphasis on financial impacts, risk, scope and data quality
• Negotiates settlements with respect to appeals on behalf of the City with taxpayers/agents and MPAC. Reports same to senior staff as required
• Analyzes current business practices/processes/data flows within the Division, between City Divisions and with MPAC; recommends improvements to enhance exchange and transfer of information including applications of New Information Technology. Consults and negotiates with various provincial agencies, Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, internal/external stakeholder groups, in the development of new policies and procedures, new regulations or legislative changes
• Prepares reports for consideration by City Council and its Standing Committees identifying options and recommends most appropriate action. Performs Cost / Benefit Analysis of the Court Appeals filed by taxpayers or their representatives (under Sec. 40 / 33 / 34 of the Assessment Act, and Sec. 331 / 357 / 358 of the Municipal Act) and invest the City’s resources accordingly to maximize City’s Revenue
• Conducts physical site inspections on behalf of the City jointly with Municipal Property Assessment staff to assess condition of properties and their physical attributes
• Provides support and expertise for technical projects to ensure effective and efficient flow of information to enhance the quality of the data returned on the Assessment Roll to be used City wide by all divisions, MPAC, Agencies, Boards and Commissions
• Communicates with Management Team to develop and implement effective work process controls and standards. Manages new corporate or divisional initiatives
• Participates as a member of the Management Team, providing leadership, goal setting and proactive problem-solving, and makes recommendations to assist the Manager in planning, service delivery, and dealing with emerging issues
• Participates in special projects as required