Business And Finance Officer II

Summary

This Special Duty position is open to King County Career Service Employees only.

This position serves a vital role in meeting our mission of setting fair and equitable property values through thorough administrative and technical oversight and support, and data analysis of the commercial appraisal administration of the department. This role involves daily interaction with staff and the public requiring leadership and collaboration skills, a strong grounding in administrative support and analysis of property/real estate data sets, excellent problem solving and analytical skills, and the ability to work in a culturally and generationally diverse team-oriented environment. Supporting the Levy Administrator & Tax Roll Supervisor, this position helps support our commitment to be one of The Best Assessment Departments in North America.

ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT OF ASSESSMENTS

An award-winning leader and innovator in government property assessments, with over 200 employees and an annual budget of over $30 million, the department administers King County's property valuation and assessment process. The Assessor's Office has a significant impact on the funding received each year by a wide range of important County public services. The agency uses innovative business intelligence tools and cutting-edge technology to be more efficient with current resources and provide value-added services to taxpayers. The Department of Assessments has collaborative partnerships with 163 separate taxing districts and 39 cities. To learn more, please visit our website at: www.kingcounty.gov/Assessor.aspx:

THE OPPORTUNITY: Due to upcoming retirements and to ensure succession plans are in place, the department is searching for a Special Duty Assistant Levy Coordinator (Business and Finance Officer II) professional with analytical skill and mathematical prowess for conducting routine, special, and well-defined property tax levy rate calculations and analysis of property annexations. We will use this position to train the selected applicant to learn the roles and responsibilities of the Levy Administration role in our organization. This Special Duty assignment is open to King County Career Service Employees only who have already completed probation.

Under the supervision of the Levy Administrator & Tax Roll Supervisor, this special duty position supports the Department of Assessments' multiple jurisdictional partners (taxing districts) and internal stakeholders through administrative and financial support for levy rate calculation and administration, property tax requests, programs and legislation, property tax jurisdiction special studies and projects that all contribute to the management and policy decisions made by the Department of Assessments.

Are You....

• An approachable and skilled administrative and financial professional with strong administrative, research, and organization skills?
• An independent and skilled analyst who, with guidance and training, can set your own direction and meet organizational objectives?
• A planner, and do you display strong listening skills with an employee/customer focus and a genuine interest in administrative support functions?
• A priority setter and collaborator, who sets clear goals and operational targets using your technical learning ability and direction from team leaders to ensure project and program success?
• An effective time manager and do you display timely and quality decision making ability?
• An attention to detail oriented administrative and finance professional?

If so, then read on to see if this special duty position is right for you.

The Department of Assessments values innovation, creativity, and engagement among its employees, and actively promotes organizational improvement and new approaches to existing operations and issues.

Job Duties

The department is searching for qualified special duty applicants looking to expand their levy administration knowledge and apply their strong customer service and appraisal/accounting knowledge. Knowledge of technical real property appraisal administration and accounting skills are foundational skill sets for this position. Specifically:

• Learn to perform levy administration support functions and routine and well-defined program and levy/tax analysis. Plan and develop levy administration presentation materials as an integral part of analysis and recommendations. Maintain annexation and boundary information based upon statutory requirements.

• Learn and understand how to review, analyze and/or prepare levy administration responses and requests for levy/property tax analyses for jurisdictions, and evaluate proposed property tax and levy changes due to legislation.

• Understand how to collaborate with other staff and management in the development and/or review of levy change calculations and property tax adjustments related to legislation and/or ordinances.

• Monitor and perform quality analysis of the tax roll; levy and property tax calculations and perform levy and tax maintenance activities such as forecasting, cost projections, cost summaries and analysis.

• Understand how to manage several Property Tax Administration Programs such as: Multi-Family Tax Exemption Program (MFTE), Historic Property Tax Exemption Program, Local Infrastructure Project Area Program, and the Revenue Development Area (RDA) Program.

• Update, maintain and support levy calculation and property tax data and other information for projects, databases, levy and property tax models and systems. Conduct routine and well-defined levy and property tax studies to evaluate proposed statutory levy and property tax calculations and/or programs such as levy analysis.

• Perform and support routine levy, property tax financial and program systems audits. Monitor, track and report audits and project and/or program status.

• Collaboratively work with the Levy Administration Team in the Accounting division team to coordinate, train, and assist in the department's levy administration of the above programs.

This special duty position serves a vital role in meeting our mission of setting fair and equitable property values, the primary service we provide to taxpayers. This role involves daily interaction with staff and the jurisdictions requiring strong technical knowledge and collaboration skills, a strong grounding in levy administration and analysis, excellent problem solving and analytical skills, and the ability to work in a culturally and generationally diverse team-oriented environment.

Experience, Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills

The successful Special Duty candidate will display:

• Strong financial analysis, analytical, communication, and interpersonal skills and the ability to work well independently and within a collaborative, team environment.

• Customer focus with a dedication to integrity, ethics, trust and values.

• Ability to work and thrive in a team environment, while simultaneously supporting the County and the department's Equity and Social Justice initiatives.

• Ability to interpret and understand the root issues pertaining to levy administration inquiries.

• Genuine interest in levy administration and calculations.

• Demonstrated understanding and application of complex property tax related calculations and analysis of related data sets or other complex data sets.

• Ability to work and meet production goals and deadlines and to support peak periods of work to support creation of the major deliverables.

• Intermediate to Expert Proficiency and ease in using business productivity tools and cutting edge technology in your everyday work; (We use Web Portals, Microsoft Office Suite and other assessment related tools).

• Exceptional listening skills and the ability to learn new concepts while simultaneously applying new learning.

• Ability to support data collection to respond to complex levy administration issues related to property tax laws, policies/procedures while working with government officials, Senior County and taxing jurisdiction leadership and the press.

Any combination of education and/or experience that clearly demonstrates the ability to successfully perform the duties of the position above and may include:

• At least four (4) years' experience with documented education and/or certification program completion in accounting, finance, business or applied mathematics, or other relevant business and finance related work experience and education, or

• A minimum of four (4) years of accounting, business administration, bookkeeping, finance, property tax analysis or other related experience, or

• Other recent and relevant experience of four (4) years that would indicate the applicant can successfully perform the duties and tasks of the position.

Supplemental Information

Forbes named King County as one of Washington State's best employers.

Together, with leadership and our employees, we're changing the way government delivers service and winning national recognition as a model of excellence. Are you ready to make a difference? Come join the team dedicated to serving one of the nation's best places to live, work and play.

Guided by our "True North", we are making King County a welcoming community where every person can thrive. We value diversity, inclusion and belonging in our workplace and workforce. To reach this goal we are committed to workforce equity. Equitable recruiting, support, and retention is how we will obtain the highest quality workforce in our region; a workforce that shares and will help advance our guiding principles - we are one team; we solve problems; we focus on the customer; we drive for results; we are racially just; we respect all people; we lead the way; and we are responsible stewards. We encourage people of all backgrounds and identities to apply, including Native American and people of color, immigrants, refugees, women, LGBTQ+, people living with disabilities, and veterans.

King County is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Employer

No person is unlawfully excluded from employment opportunities based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation and pregnancy), age, genetic information, disability, veteran status, or other protected class. Our EEO policy applies to all employment actions, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, selection for training, promotion, transfer, demotion, layoff, termination, rates of pay or other forms of compensation.

The Department of Assessments values innovation, creativity and engagement among its employees, and actively promotes organizational improvement and new approaches to existing operations and issues.

To Apply

This exciting opportunity is open ONLY to King County Career Service Employees. Please apply online at kingcounty.gov/jobs. We highly recommend that you also provide a cover letter detailing your experiences and background as it relates to this position and a resume. If you are interested in pursuing this position, please follow the application instructions carefully. If you need this announcement in an alternate language or format, would like to request accommodation or assistance in the application or assessment process or if you have questions please contact the recruiter listed on this job announcement.

The applicants who meet the required minimum qualifications and indicate through an analysis of their submitted application materials that they possess the most competitive background in direct and recent job-related experience, knowledge, skill, abilities and training may be called for further selection processing. Additional selection process analysis may include but is not limited to written and performance exams, written work submittals, web-based/online examinations, oral panel and/or manager interviews.

WORKING CONDITIONS: The primary work location for this position is the King Street Center, 201 South Jackson St., Seattle, WA.