**Mohave County Assessor Office’s Address Protection Program Earns Statewide Award**

MOHAVE COUNTY, AZ (December 16, 2024) — The Mohave County Assessor’s Office has been honored with a top accolade in the 2024 Summit Awards, a prestigious statewide competition organized by the Arizona Association of Counties (AACo) to recognize innovative problem-solving at the county level. The County Assessor’s Address Protection Program received the Summit Award in the County Administration, Finance, & Management category during the AACo Annual Conference last week.

The Address Protection Program was lauded for its proactive approach in enabling property owners to “lock” their taxpayer address, ensuring that only the owner can make changes to their information. AACo Executive Director Jen Marson remarked on the program’s impact, highlighting research that identified a common element in fraud cases as the alteration of address information at the assessor’s office. “To help protect taxpayers, the Mohave Assessors Office developed a software solution that, for a nominal cost, provides an added layer of security in maintaining taxpayer address and ownership records,” said Marson. She also congratulated Assessor Jeanne Kentch and her team for effectively addressing the issue.

Since its inception in August 2022, the program allows taxpayers to opt in through a notarized affidavit, requesting their address be locked. Future address changes can only be made using a subsequent notarized affidavit. This procedure creates multiple opportunities to detect fraudulent actions before any updates to parcel records are made. The program is voluntary and available to all Mohave County property owners.

Upon launching, the program projected an enrollment rate of 200 properties per year. By December 2022, 183 enrollees had already participated. Enrollment surged in 2023, reaching 879 participants, with 447 new enrollments recorded so far in 2024. By identifying a community need and implementing an effective solution, the Mohave County Assessor’s Office has provided property owners with an essential tool to help prevent deed fraud.

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