Build a citywide baseline property inventory

Run a one-time citywide inventory that captures every parcel or structure, assigns a clear identifier, and records standard property facts. This is the reset option for cities whose property records are too fragmented or outdated to support reliable billing and later valuation work.

• The current roll is badly fragmented and undercoverage is likely systemic.

• The city wants a clean base for future billing and valuation reform.

• Leadership is willing to fund a more substantial multi-year operation.

• Clear legal authority, budget, project management, and a strong quality-control plan.

• A defined data model so the inventory feeds a live tax register rather than a dead survey file.

• Do not start here if the city cannot sustain the data after the exercise ends.

• This is too heavy for cities that can fix most problems through targeted sweeps and data matching.

This is a bigger political and managerial commitment than many overview cards. It often succeeds only when city leadership is prepared to fund it properly, explain why it is needed, and protect the exercise from being diluted into a weak or incomplete survey.

The full card would help the city plan the scope, phasing, procurement, staffing, field methodology, public communication, and quality assurance for a larger baseline exercise.

• Give each property one ID in one register

• Start with an assessment method the city can actually keep current

• Revalue first where the money and change are concentrated.

A citywide baseline is not the right first move everywhere, but where the register is fundamentally broken it can be the turning point that lets the city stop operating from disconnected lists and partial field knowledge. The key is to treat the inventory as the beginning of an operational register, not as a stand-alone survey that sits on a shelf.

Create a comprehensive starting inventory of taxable properties and core facts across the whole city or across a defined first phase of the city.

A city with a badly fragmented or obviously incomplete register that now needs a stronger baseline to support later billing, maintenance, and valuation reform.

A verified baseline in the first pilot or tranche, giving the city a clearer picture of total coverage and where the biggest gaps were hiding.

Decide whether the city will attempt a full baseline at once or phase it, and assign one owner for data standards, procurement, and quality control.

Revenue administration or a dedicated project office, working with planning, mapping, IT, procurement, and field teams.

• The current property list is so incomplete or fragmented that smaller fixes keep running into the same limits.

• Leadership is ready to invest in a more structural reset of the register.

• The city wants a stronger platform for later billing improvement, maintenance, and possible valuation reform.

• Be clear about the minimum data fields needed for operations; baseline exercises often fail when they try to collect too much at once.

• Choose a governance model early so survey, mapping, IT, and revenue teams are working to the same data model.

• If resources are limited, phase the inventory rather than announcing a citywide scope that cannot be delivered.

• Settle whether the inventory is parcel-based, structure-based, or uses a layered approach that can accommodate both.

• Choose whether the work will be done mainly by city staff, by contractors, or through a mixed model with strong city oversight.

• Decide which areas, property types, or risk zones should be included in the first phase if the exercise is staged.

First 90 days

• Define the scope, data model, pilot geography, and terms of reference.

• Clarify who will own quality control, who will approve standards, and how pilot findings will be tested.

• Design a pilot before full rollout so the city understands true costs, likely error types, and data-loading issues.

6 to 12 months

• Complete the pilot or first phase and run meaningful quality checks.

• Resolve how the new data will enter the operational register rather than living in a project database.

• Use pilot evidence to refine cost estimates, team structure, and the rollout sequence.

12 to 24 months and beyond

• Expand phase by phase only if the city can absorb the information operationally.

• Standardise the update and maintenance procedures before the exercise finishes.

• Link the baseline to later maintenance tools so the city does not need another major reset too soon.

• The city usually needs clear authority to collect and maintain property information for tax purposes and a clear working definition of taxable property.

• Where the exercise uses contractors, contracts should make data ownership and confidentiality explicit.

• Quality control is a core function, not an afterthought. Large inventories fail when supervision is too thin.

• The city needs enough data-management capacity to receive, check, and load what field teams collect.

• Procurement, contract management, and interdepartmental coordination matter as much as technical survey design.

• The city may launch a baseline that is too ambitious, too detailed, or too weakly governed to become operationally useful.

• Contractor-driven inventories can produce impressive outputs that do not fit the city’s real workflows.

• If the exercise ends without a maintenance plan, the city simply starts a new cycle of decline from a higher point.

• Number and share of expected properties captured in the pilot or phase.

• Error rate from quality-control checks.

• Share of baseline records loaded into the operational register rather than held separately.

• Unit cost and time per verified record or area covered.

• This card depends heavily on PT-COV-07 for a usable master register, PT-COV-13 for practical location referencing where addresses are weak, and PT-COV-09 so the new baseline does not decay after completion.

• Does the city truly need a full baseline now, or would a phased approach be more realistic?

• Who owns the data model and the quality standard?

• What minimum fields are essential for operations?

• How will the city keep the new baseline current after the project ends?