Jul 27, 2026 | AOC News, NACo
Oregon counties were well-represented at the 2026 National Association of Counties (NACo) Annual Conference and Exposition in Orleans Parish/New Orleans, La. The nation’s largest meeting of county leaders drew over 3,200 attendees from across the country for four days of learning, networking, and advocacy.
Commissioners, judges, chairs, and staff from 12 Oregon counties attended the conference with staff members from the Association of Oregon Counties (AOC) to exchange best practices on a wide range of county responsibilities and domestic policy issues.
“NACo’s annual conference serves as a vital opportunity to gather innovative ideas and resources that we can bring back to our counties to better serve our communities,” said AOC President and Tillamook County Commissioner Erin Skaar.
Beyond attending educational workshops on public health, data centers, energy, and revenue generation, the Oregon delegation participated in NACo’s policy steering committee meetings to shape the organization’s advocacy efforts.
Conference highlights included:
- Population caucus meetings for urban, midsize, and rural counties to discuss critical federal, state and local issues impacting these unique communities
- The Western Interstate Region (WIR) Board of Directors meeting, where Klamath County Commissioner Derrick DeGroot serves as first vice-president, to discuss county involvement in energy production and balancing resource development with public access to federal lands
- A pre-conference summit highlighting best practices for using settlement funds to strengthen public health responses to the opioid crisis
- A workshop featuring Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson on the role of childcare as essential economic infrastructure
- The annual business meeting where NACo’s new president, George Dunlap, announced presidential appointments for 2026-27, including several appointed to key roles in policy committees and caucuses from Oregon
- Mobile workshops for a look into the local services offered by the city and parish of New Orleans
- Closing reception at Mardi Gras World!
Read NACo news coverage and watch video highlights on the NACo conference webpage.
Contributed by: Erin Good | Communications Coordinator
Jul 27, 2026 | AOC News, Events
District meetings offer a valuable space for Association of Oregon Counties (AOC) members, regional partners, and affiliate organizations to connect, receive updates from AOC staff, and engage in discussions on local issues. Held each fall, these hybrid meetings rotate across AOC’s eight regional districts and are hosted by a member county within each region. District leaders — who serve on the Board of Directors and Legislative Committee — are instrumental in representing their regions in AOC’s major organizational decisions and policy positions. You can find full event details on the AOC calendar.
District 1 Meeting: Sept. 28
Hosted by Union County
Baker, Grant, Malheur, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa
District 2 Meeting: Oct. 1
Hosted by Deschutes County
Crook, Deschutes, Harney, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake
District 3 Meeting: Oct. 2
Hosted by Morrow County
Gilliam, Hood River, Morrow, Sherman, Wasco, Wheeler
District 4 Meeting: Sept. 25
Hosted by Douglas County
Coos, Curry, Douglas, Josephine
District 5 Meeting: Sept. 24
Hosted by Benton County
Benton, Lane, Linn
District 6 Meeting: Oct. 5
Hosted by Polk County
Marion, Polk, Yamhill
District 7 Meeting: Sept. 21
Hosted by Columbia County
Clatsop, Columbia, Lincoln, Tillamook
District 8 Meeting: Sept. 16
Hosted by Multnomah County
Clackamas, Multnomah, Washington
Contributed by: Erin Good | Communications Coordinator
Jul 27, 2026 | AOC News, NACo
The National Association of Counties (NACo) membership elected new leadership and set the organization’s policy priorities during the Annual Business Meeting at NACo’s Annual Conference and Exposition in New Orleans, La. In his first act as NACo President, Commissioner George Dunlap appointed caucus and committee leadership to represent counties at the federal level.
NACo’s policy steering committees cover a variety of domestic policy issues impacting county governments and local communities. The policy development process initiated by the steering committees is the foundation for the American County Platform, which drives NACo’s advocacy work.
Congratulations to the following Association of Oregon Counties (AOC) members who were appointed to leadership positions in NACo committees and caucuses:
Agriculture and Rural Affairs Policy Steering Committee
- Union County Commissioner Jake Seavert (Agriculture and Food Safety Subcommittee Vice Chair)
Health Policy Steering Committee
- Marion County Commissioner Danielle Bethell (Committee Vice Chair)
Justice and Public Safety Policy Steering Committee
- Umatilla County Commissioner John Shafer (Law Enforcement Subcommittee Chair)
Public Lands Policy Steering Committee
- Union County Commissioner Paul Anderes (Land Management Subcommittee Vice Chair)
- Wallowa County Commissioner Lisa Collier (Outdoor Recreation Subcommittee Vice Chair)
- Crook County Commissioner Susan Hermreck (Payments Subcommittee Vice Chair)
Transportation Policy Steering Committee
- Washington County Commissioner Nafisa Fai (Committee Vice Chair)
- Clackamas County Commissioner Paul Savas (Committee Vice Chair)
Midsize County Caucus
- Clackamas County Commissioner Martha Schrader (Caucus Vice Chair)
Contributed by: Erin Good | Communications Coordinator
Jul 27, 2026 | AOC Business Partner
Sponsored content contributed by AOC Business Partner: Tyler Technologies
Property tax administration plays a critical role in funding essential county services. It’s also one of the most direct interactions residents have with local government. When processes are clear and consistent, they build trust. When they’re not, they create frustration for taxpayers and staff alike.
Across counties, assessment and taxation offices manage high volumes of work under fixed timelines. During peak periods, manual, paper-based workflows often require multiple departments to handle mail, complete data entry, review documentation, and respond to taxpayer inquiries. These handoffs increase workload and make it harder to see where a filing or payment stands at any given moment.
Why simplification matters
Simplifying property tax processes isn’t about changing policy or reducing oversight. It’s about making routine work more manageable and information easier to access.
For county staff, streamlined workflows can help:
- Reduce manual data entry and paper handling
- Improve coordination across departments
- Provide better visibility into workload and filing status
For taxpayers, simplification shows up as transparency:
- Clear access to property and tax information
- Fewer steps to submit required forms or payments
- Greater confidence that submissions were received and processed
Transparency builds trust
Taxpayers may not expect property taxes to be simple, but they do expect them to be understandable. Clear access to information, consistent communication, and reliable status tracking all help reinforce confidence in county processes.
Modern tax billing and collections practices increasingly focus on centralizing information, improving reporting, and reducing unnecessary manual steps, supporting both operational efficiency and public accountability.
Supporting staff through technology
As counties seek additional ways to improve efficiency and service delivery, artificial intelligence is beginning to show promise as a practical tool within assessment and taxation offices. While AI is not a replacement for professional judgment or staff expertise, it can help automate many of the repetitive and time-consuming tasks that consume valuable resources.
Staffing challenges: This opportunity comes at a particularly important time for local governments. Many assessment and taxation offices are experiencing the effects of what workforce experts often refer to as the “Silver Tsunami”—the retirement of long-serving public sector employees who possess decades of institutional knowledge and technical expertise. As experienced appraisers, assessment staff, and tax administration professionals leave the workforce, counties face the dual challenge of replacing personnel while also preserving critical knowledge that has often been developed over many years of service.
Standardizing workflows: Technology can play an important role in helping agencies address this transition. Modern systems can help standardize workflows, improve documentation, centralize data, and make information more accessible to newer employees. AI may further assist by helping staff locate information more quickly, summarize complex documentation, identify potential data inconsistencies, and respond to routine inquiries. These capabilities can help reduce administrative burdens and shorten learning curves for newer team members while allowing experienced staff to focus on higher-value activities before retirement and during knowledge transfer efforts.
Constituent service: Potential applications include assisting taxpayers with routine questions through 24/7 self-service tools, improving access to information across multiple systems, summarizing large volumes of property-related documentation, identifying inconsistencies in data, and helping staff locate relevant records more quickly. AI may also help reduce administrative burdens related to processing and evaluating information, allowing employees to focus more time on complex analysis, valuation activities, exception handling, and direct constituent engagement.
As local governments continue to face increasing workloads, rising service expectations, and ongoing staffing challenges, carefully implemented AI solutions have the potential to enhance efficiency, improve customer service, and support more responsive government operations while maintaining transparency and accountability.
Moving Forward, Practically
Many counties start by focusing on the most paper-heavy or time-sensitive parts of the tax lifecycle. Small, targeted improvements can reduce staff strain, improve service and make the system easier to navigate without sacrificing accuracy or control.
Property tax administration will always be complex. But thoughtful simplification can make it clearer, more transparent, and more manageable for everyone involved.
By Bob Tenace, Account Executive, Tyler Technologies
Jul 27, 2026 | AOC Business Partner
Sponsored content contributed by AOC Business Partner: Covenant Technology Solutions
Most counties are not under-secured because they do not care. They are under-resourced. IT teams are often lean, budgets are tight, and the list of security expectations keeps growing.
That is why the goal should not be “do everything.” The goal should be to do the right things consistently.
A practical Minimum Viable Security program gives counties a simple operating rhythm:
Weekly: Review critical alerts, suspicious sign-ins, and backup completion.
Monthly: Review admin access, patch the highest-risk systems first, and confirm email protections are working as expected.
Quarterly: Run a tabletop exercise, validate one restore, and review vendor access.
The quick win: choose one day each month for a “security tune-up hour.” Use that time to check access, backups, patching, and anything that has changed since the last review.
Consistency beats intensity. Counties do not need a perfect cybersecurity program overnight. They need a realistic cadence that reduces risk, supports essential services, and gives leadership confidence that the most important items are being reviewed.
For counties that want a structured way to measure progress, Covenant’s Technology Assessments and Microsoft 365 Secure Score Assessment can help identify practical next steps.
Read the full article.
