By Jeff Prang
Los Angeles County Assessor
A year ago, our office conceived an innovative jobs training program with local community colleges that has constructed a direct pipeline to good-paying County jobs and we are currently working on an expansion to additional institutions.
The Real Estate Appraiser III Certificate Program at West Los Angeles College and the Appraiser Assistant Training Program at Rio Hondo College are “first-of-its-kind,” as articulated by the Los Angeles Community College District. More important, they fill the need of replacing 30 or so valuable property appraisers who leave the Department each year through retirements, job relocation, and other factors.
The programs provide students with the training needed to embark on a career as property appraisers or an opportunity to receive the necessary training to apply for employment as an appraiser assistant.
Let’s take a quick look back at how this all began before I provide you with an update.
When I was first elected in 2014, I noticed immediately the challenge of attracting qualified candidates to the Department. In a good year, the Assessor’s Office could train in-house about 30 new appraisers, if we could start a class. There were some years when we had no classes and these positions went unfilled.
I, along with valuable members of my staff, began to reach out to outside agencies to see what could be done. The Los Angeles Community College District was willing to help. The county’s Department of Workforce Development, Aging and Community Services was willing to help. In fact, they proved to be instrumental. Also, I solicited support from the Board of Supervisors because I most assuredly believe that the County could benefit from a new pathway for qualified candidates in general, not just for the Assessor’s Office.
In August of 2020, Supervisor for the First District Hilda L. Solis, who leads the Boards efforts on its workforce development initiatives, put forth a motion to explore training programs and curriculums currently offered at local colleges.
The first collaboration was with West LA College and is the Real Estate Appraiser III Certificate of Achievement Program.
This training is comprised of students already hired and undergoing the required instruction before going to work in the field. The goal is to shift much of the Assessor’s in-house classroom training for basic appraisal principles to the college classroom.
The second course of instruction is with Rio Hondo College and is the Appraiser Assistant Training Program. The training program is comprised of four tuition-free, noncredit courses.
Upon successful completion of the program, students will receive a noncredit certificate in California Property Taxation and Appraisal, and an opportunity to apply for employment at the Assessor’s Office as an Appraiser Assistant. These are actual jobs that pay an annual salary between $45,000 and $55,000 to start.
Both these programs are up and running and are proving to be successful. Four Appraiser Assistants have already been hired – this number is growing as the students complete the requisite courses - and are currently working in the Assessor’s Office, having graduated from the Rio Hondo Program. About 46 candidates have qualified to apply for the Appraiser Assistant position. Assessor managers are interviewing candidates right now for the openings.
Meanwhile, 21 newly hired appraisers have completed classes at West Los Angeles College and 100 more are scheduled to take the classes. This allows our in-house instructors to focus on assessing property values that bring much-needed revenue into the County coffers.
Moreover, the Community College Program is preparing to launch a new program at Mt. San Antonio College for another career profession with the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office, the Ownership Technician. Building on the successful program at Rio Hondo College, Mt. SAC students will be able to enroll in a similarly designed program and upon completion, will have the opportunity to apply for employment as an Ownership Technician.
I will keep you posted in the months ahead how the jobs’ training program progresses. For more information about these and other programs offered by the Los Angeles County Assessor, go to assessor.lacounty.gov.
Los Angeles County Assessor Jeff Prang has been in office since 2014. Upon taking office, Prang implemented sweeping reforms to ensure that the strictest ethical guidelines rooted in fairness, accuracy and integrity would be adhered to in his office, which is the largest office of its kind in the nation with about 1,400 employees and provides the foundation for a property tax system that generates $19 billion annually for vital public services.
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