Coming
from a working class background, young Lori in 1956Lori Nance Parrish
moved to Broward County from the Midwest with her family when she
was eight years old in 1956.
Lori
worked as a bookkeeper, a plant store owner, and a painting and landscape
contractor while raising and supporting her two young children. She
volunteered her time to several civic and community groups, including
the Davie/Cooper City Chamber of Commerce, PTA, HRS, Red Cross, and
the Library Advisory Board, while balancing the demands of home and
work.
In 1984,
motivated by the desire to improve educational standards in Broward
County public schools, Lori ran and was elected to a four-year term
on the Broward County School Board after defeating her opposition
in primary and general elections. She served as Vice Chair and Chair.
Lori's
common sense approach to government appealed to Broward's diverse
voters in 1988 when she ran and was elected to the Broward County
Commission. Her straight-talking, "tell-it-like-it-is" style
was one of the refreshing changes she brought to County government.
As a
Commissioner, Lori championed such causes as fiscal restraint, less
bureaucracy, environmental protection, the rights of domestic violence
victims, public safety, economic development, mass transit and improved
health services, including the need for a pediatric pathologist. Dedicated
to the equal treatment of all citizens, she has won praise for her
efforts to open opportunities for women and minorities, and was inducted
into the Broward County Women's Hall of Fame on March 15, 1997. She
was elected Vice Chair of the County Commission in 1989 and 1996 and
Chair in 1990,1997 and 2001 and was re-elected to four-year terms
in 1992, 1996 and 2000, without opposition.
In 2004,
Lori left the County Commission to run for Broward County Property
Appraiser. Running on a promise to ensure a fair shake for all taxpayers,
Lori was overwhelmingly elected with 61% of the vote. Her current
term as Property Appraiser runs until January 2009.
Since
taking office in January 2005 as our Property Appraiser, Lori moved
to rapidly modernize the antiquated office she inherited. Here are
just a few examples:
-
Before: The office had one secretary
assigned part-time to "look into" cases of suspected homestead
fraud.
Now: Lori created the office's first professional Fraud
Unit, staffed with a combination of career law enforcement officers
and knowledgeable appraisers. As of mid-2008, the Fraud Unit investigated
nearly 15,000 cases, which resulted in over $19 million in back
tax liens and penalties, and the addition of more than $3 billion
dollars in assessed value back onto our tax roll due to fraudulent
and unlawful exemptions.
- Before:
Despite a state law requiring physical inspections of
all property in Broward at least once every five years, most properties
in Broward had not been inspected in over a dozen years -- and some
had not been visited in more than 20 years. This serious lapse caused
shopping centers, commercial properties and homes to stay off the
tax roll for years and unfairly avoid property taxes -- making the
rest of us pay more than our fair share.
Now: All Broward properties are inspected every three
years, ensuring an accurate listing of all properties.
- Before:
The office only had roughly a dozen appraisers with
State of Florida CFE certifications as professional property appraisers.
Now: Lori rapidly professionalized the office. Over 130
of our appraisers completed the four required IAAO courses -- a
total of 160 classroom hours and rigorous testing -- and earned
CFE accreditation from the State of Florida. Lori herself passed
all the classes in 2005-06 and earned both CFE and CFA certifications.
All new appraisers are required to obtain CFE status within 2 years
of hire date.
-
Before: The lag time between
the date of recording a new deed and the date those changes would
appear in our records and on our website was over six months. So-called
"problem deeds" were simply piled in old filing cabinets,
remaining unprocessed for years.
Now: All property record changes are posted to our system
within two business days of the recording date.
-
Before: The office was the worst
in the state for urban counties in terms of technology, as Broward
was the only large Florida county without a Computer-Assisted Mass
Appraisal (CAMA) system. Office records were maintained on a failing
system dependent upon the obsolete "PL1" programming language
created in the 1960s.
Now: After a highly-competitive selection process, the
BCPA is now in the midst of a multi-year conversion to a modern
CAMA system. This will ensure greater accuracy in the mass appraisal
process.
-
Before: The office poorly communicated
with the public, phones often went una
- nswered
and only a handful of employees used email.
Now: All phones are promptly answered, messages are timely
returned, all employees have email to communicate with the public,
and we open the office to the public on several Saturdays each year
during key "crunch times" on the tax calendar to better
meet the needs of working families. Lori also leads by example.
During busiest times, it is not uncommon to find Lori and all the
other senior staff helping customers in our lobby, taking homestead
exemptions, and answering the main phone lines. Lori's email address
is posted throughout the site to ensure easy communications with
our office -- and anyone who has ever emailed Lori can testify that
she answers all those emails herself, including on nights, weekends
and holidays.
-
Before: Taxpayers were stuck
in their homes, unable to move because of the restrictions of the
Save Our Homes law coupled with high property taxes.
Now: Lori -- starting years ago when she was on the County
Commission -- led the fight for tax relief and Portability. When
the Legislature finally placed homestead portability (Amendment
1) on the January 2008, Lori led the fight in South Florida for
the successful passage of this tax relief for homeowners and small
businesses.
These
innovations and improvements will ensure that each Broward taxpayer
will only have to pay his or her fair share. No more, no less.
Lori
has successfully completed over 200 hours of International Association
of Assessing Officer (IAAO) professional appraisal courses. Her IAAO
coursework covered topics ranging from appraisal fundamentals to the
income approach, cadastral mapping, land valuation and complex mass
appraisal methodologies. She earned her Certified Florida Evaluator
(CFE) and Certified Florida Appraiser (CFA) designations from the
State of Florida in 2007.
Lori
resides in Davie and has lived in Southwest Broward for over 40 years.
She is married to Geoffrey Cohen. Lori has two grown children and
two young granddaughters.
Pictured
at the very top of this page are five generations of Lori's family:
Lori, her grandmother (who turned 100 this summer), her mother, her
daughter and her two granddaughters.
Click
here to download a high-resolution
photo of Lori (JPG File - 1.2 Mb)
