2007 CATA Conference Summary

INTRODUCTION

The 2007 CATA conference turned out to be another successful conference.  The conference was attended by 351 members who had nearly 30 classes to choose from.  Over 7100 hours of continuing education was awarded over this 4-day period.  See the 2007 Photo Highlights here. The 2007 CATA Business Meeting Minutes are here. The Conference Evaluation Summary is available here for download. A Map of the participating counties is here. 

GRATEFUL FOR SUPPORT

We are extremely grateful for all of the support that is received to make the conference what it is.  The Division of Property Taxation continues to provide the bulk of the continuing education classes at a nominal fee.  The Colorado Assessors Association provides a generous contribution that allows us to keep class costs down.  The software vendors were a huge part of this year’s conference with 10 different vendors in attendance with booths.  There is a nominal fee to set up a booth, but some provide substantial added value to our conference.  Tylerworks provided a sizable donation towards our ice breaker pizza party on Monday evening.  Apex taught their Mobile Technology class again this year.  Spatialest provided the folders for the registration packet and Colorado Custom Ware provided the lanyards for the nametags.  In addition to these donations, many of the vendors provided nice door prizes that were given out at the annual dinner meeting. The tax agents continue to provide the membership with an opportunity to network and share war stories over a beverage at their Hospitality Room.  This has been a long-standing tradition that we hope can continue for years to come.  CATA is also supported by the 40 plus assessors that allow their staff to attend the conference.

WILL CATA SURVIVE THE FUTURE?

CATA functions for one primary purpose.  CATA functions to provide continuing education at an affordable cost.  If the need for continuing education goes away, so does the function and purpose of CATA.  If the cost becomes unaffordable, assessors will not be able to support it.  The CATA executive board has been faced with substantially higher costs in conference fees, and this does not seem to be going to change in the near future.  Many county assessors have recognized the tremendous benefit of allowing their appraisal staff to network with the other county appraisers throughout the state.  Unfortunately, when it comes to budgeting, the costs of this benefit must be weighed.  The CATA executive board is very aware of these cost issues, and is continuing to pursue lower cost venues.  The CATA board would like you to know that there isn’t any perfect place for our conference.  We are aware of the deficiencies of each location, and having weighed the cost/benefit of each location, our choice comes down to two issues.  Does the location meet our needs?  Is the location affordable?  I think you will see the CATA board exploring many other options over the next few years.  However, it remains to be seen what this exploration will yield.

CONFERENCE SURVEY RESULTS

There were 351 attendees at the 2007 conference and the CATA board received about 60 conference surveys back.  These surveys tell us what individuals liked, or disliked, about their experiences at the conference.  The board is very interested in providing a conference that meets the needs of the membership.  I do not want, in any way, to undermine the value of the 60 responses we received.  It is just that we are not sure that we can fully rely on the responses of 60 individuals as the total guide for changes for the future.  The CATA board certainly takes some responsibility in recognizing the survey process is not very convenient.  We will be looking at how we can improve the process of allowing the membership to make suggestions in the future.  Do keep in mind, if there was something about the 2007 conference you really liked, or really didn’t like, the e-mail addresses of all the board members is below.  You only need to send to one, and it will get forwarded to the rest.

 

The 2008 CATA Executive Board is as follows:

President – Debbie Fangmeier (Weld County)
1st Vice President – Raelene Churyk (Weld County)
2nd Vice President – Chris Bellegante (Boulder County)
Secretary – Mike Peterson (Summit County)
Treasurer – Ronda Lobato (Costilla County)
Board Member – Jeremy Maldonado (Adams County)
Board Member – Kathy Aumand (Larimer County)
Board Member – Sara Thorpe  (Jefferson County)

You can see the 2007 Conference Statistics here.