Jeffrey Prang: From Crisis To Opportunity

How Technology Modernization in the Assessor’s Office Mitigated Wildfire Damage Impact 

By Jeff Prang  Los Angeles County Assessor

The real estate market began this year on noticeably softer ground. Home sales have slowed, bidding wars are no longer the norm, and downtown office buildings are now selling for nearly half of what they were valued at just a decade ago.

In December 2024, my office forecasted that property values in Los Angeles County would grow by approximately 4% over the previous year. While still a positive figure, it reflected a cooling trend compared to the 5 to 6% annual increases we’ve seen in recent years.

Then, things took a dramatic turn.

The devastating wildfires in January 2025 damaged or destroyed nearly 20,000 properties across the County. The resulting loss in taxable property is substantial and will significantly affect property tax revenues that fund essential local services for years.

Of the more than 23,000 properties identified for review due to fire damage, my office has already reduced the assessed value, and thus the property taxes, of 17,000 of them. Current estimates show nearly $10 billion in reductions, with a potential additional reduction of $1.5 to $3 billion still under review. That translates into a projected $100 million in lost revenue, funds that normally go to our public schools, city and county services, and other local agencies.

This loss comes at a time when state and local governments are already grappling with serious fiscal challenges. For policymakers striving to maintain services and protect public-sector jobs, the strain is real.

But, somewhat unexpectedly, some unanticipated good news has developed.

When I was elected Assessor in 2014, one of my highest priorities was to modernize our antiquated, inefficient technology infrastructure. At the time, the Assessor’s Office relied on a decades-old mainframe system, green screens, DOS commands, and miles of paper files. It was inefficient for our staff and opaque for the public.

Over the past 10 years, we have invested significantly in a new, cloud-based platform, including the digitization of 2.4 million property files. That modernized system, internally known as the Assessor’s Modernization Project (AMP), officially went live in August 2024, and I’m proud to say the transition was seamless, free from the bugs and setbacks that often accompany large government tech projects. The 2025 Assessment Roll is the first to be completed entirely on this new platform.

This investment is already producing measurable results. The efficiency of the new system has saved more than 45,000 work hours, allowing our staff to eliminate long-standing transactional backlogs and enroll an estimated $13 billion in assessed value that might otherwise have been delayed until the next fiscal year. Those gains have effectively offset the revenue losses caused by the wildfires, bringing our updated projection for property value growth nearly back in line with our original estimate.

Success in government should always be measured in outcomes. The early returns from our technological modernization are not only tangible – they are also transformative.

Although the Assessor’s role is often misunderstood, many still believe I collect property taxes (I do not; that’s the responsibility of the Tax Collector), the truth is this: no other local government agency can do its job until the Assessor has done its job. Without a complete and accurate Assessment Roll, critical revenue is delayed, or worse, lost altogether.

That the culmination of our technological upgrade coincided with a natural disaster is, in a word, fortuitous. It underscores not just the essential role the Assessor’s Office plays in government finance, but how smart planning and investment can make the difference between crisis and recovery.  Now more than ever, the work of the Assessor matters.

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Los Angeles County Assessor Jeff Prang leads the largest local public property assessment agency in the nation. His office of over 1,400 appraisers and support staff are dedicated to creating an accurate and timely property Assessment Roll. This year, the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office conducted more than 2.5 million real estate and business assessments valued at more than $2 trillion. He currently serves as the President of the California Assessors Association.

Jeffrey Prang served on the West Hollywood City Council from 1997-2015.