Marion County Accountability Report

1 Executive summary

In Marion County, Jason Smith’s office assesses residential property with a coefficient of dispersion (COD) of 20.2 — a measure of how evenly comparable homes are valued — against an IAAO target of 15 or below, where the county ranks 3rd of 54 for uniformity. Vertical equity (PRD 1.023, PRB 0.0057) is within or near the equitable range. Of the roll, 11.6% is stale (≥20% uncaptured market movement); the county ranks 28th of 55 for reappraisal currency. Overall the office meets 2 of 3 iaao standards — reported per standard, with no single overall grade.

COD (uniformity) FAIL

COD 20.2 (IAAO ≤ 15)

Ranks 3rd of 54 for uniformity

PRD (vertical equity) PASS

PRD 1.023 (IAAO 0.98–1.03)

Ranks 1st of 54 for vertical equity

PRB (vertical equity) PASS

PRB 0.0057 (IAAO ±0.05)

Ranks 1st of 54 for vertical equity

Reappraisal cadence PASS

11.6% stale (IAAO < 15% stale)

Ranks 28th of 55 for reappraisal currency

2 Uniformity — Coefficient of Dispersion (COD)

20.2 IAAO target ≤ 15 (improved residential)

FAIL

COD 20.2 — uneven assessment across parcels (>20).

Statewide context: the median county COD is 31.6; this county is more uniform than the typical WV county.

Among all 55 counties, Marion ranks 3rd of 54 for uniformity (1st = most uniform).

3 Vertical equity — PRD & PRB

1.023 Price-Related Differential · IAAO 0.98–1.03

PASS

PRD 1.023.

0.0057 Price-Related Bias · IAAO ±0.05

PASS

PRB 0.0057.

On vertical equity (|PRB|), Marion ranks 1st of 54 for vertical equity of the 55 counties (1st = most equitable).

4 Reappraisal cadence

11.6% stale IAAO/best-practice target < 15% of roll stale · avg 1.5 yrs since last value change

PASS

11.6% of the residential roll has ≥20% uncaptured market movement (avg 1.5 yrs since last value change) — roll is current.

Statewide context: the median county has 11.6% of its roll stale.

Marion Ranks 28th of 55 for reappraisal currency (1st = most current roll).

5 Level of assessment (context only — not graded)

Median sales ratio — context only, never graded

0.8403 CONTEXT

Appraised at 84% of market. WV runs below 100% (reappraisal lag + market) — reported as context, not graded.

Why this is not graded: West Virginia’s mandated reappraisal cycle and the housing market — both largely outside any one assessor’s control — push the level (whether values sit at, say, 84% vs 95% of market) far more than assessment practice does. A county can be perfectly uniform and equitable while still sitting below 100% simply because the cycle hasn’t come around. So the level is reported as context.

6 Assessor tenure scorecard

Each graded assessor era, scored on its own roll against the same IAAO standards. WV assessors serve four-year terms; the seat is on the ballot in November of a term’s end year.

Jason Smith term 2025–2028

current officeholder

On the ballot 2028 — this seat is up for election in November 2028.

James P. Priester (2003–2016)

n=4,405 · Confidence: High · 2 of 3 standards met

COD FAIL 21.1 PRD PASS 1.021 PRB PASS 0.0144 Level ratio 0.8347 (context)

Mark Trach (2017–2024)

n=3,287 · Confidence: High · 2 of 3 standards met

COD WARN 18.9 PRD PASS 1.028 PRB PASS -0.0164 Level ratio 0.8477 (context)

Term-over-term trend

From James P. Priester (2003–2016) to Mark Trach (2017–2024). Lower COD = more uniform.

▲

Uniformity (COD) improved by 2.2 COD points (21.1 → 18.9) under Mark Trach vs. James P. Priester.

7 Methodology & integrity

Real elected officials. Level (median ratio) is confounded by the statewide reappraisal cycle and the housing market; COD/uniformity is the more assessor-attributable signal. Not a judgment of any individual.

Grades rest on a direct, time-matched sales-ratio study: the assessor’s own appraised value in the sale year divided by the actual arms-length sale price. There is no model and no prediction. Grading gates: an era is graded only with ≥100 attributable sales across ≥2 distinct sale years; the current roll year (2025) is excluded until it settles.

Confidence tiers (by attributed sales): High ≥ 1,000 · Medium 300–999 · Low 100–299 · Insufficient < 100.

Targets: COD ≤ 15 (IAAO, improved residential); PRD 0.98–1.03 (IAAO); PRB ±0.05 (IAAO); cadence < 15% of roll stale; level context only — confounded by reappraisal cycle + market, not graded.

Data sources: county assessor records — appraised values from parcel_tax_history, arms-length (validity-code 0) residential (class R) sales from parcel_sales_history. This dataset contains no billed tax dollars.

These are assessment-practice metrics, not a judgment of any individual, computed the same way for every county. Full detail: Methodology & Data →