Clinton County Council approves upgrade to Beacon property portal
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Summary
The council authorized a one-time setup for expanded features on the county’s Beacon property website, to be paid initially from the sales-disclosure fund; annual subscription costs will be covered from the assessor’s budget.
Clinton County Council members voted 7-0 on Aug. 19 to allow the county assessor to upgrade the office’s Beacon Schneider property-portal contract to add expanded mapping and online filing features.
The upgrade will let the assessor add up to a dozen new data layers to the public parcel map, provide online forms and guided appeal filing, and add a property-tax “pie chart” that shows how a taxpayer’s dollars are distributed among taxing units. Assessor Jada Bridal said the package “gives us the function to add up to, like, 12 additional layers onto those maps” and will also let people “file an appeal… and it will actually also pull for them comparable sales.”
Why it matters: The tools are designed to let residents check parcel data, see recent sales and comparable properties, and submit forms remotely, which the assessor said should reduce routine phone and counter questions during busy periods such as reassessment and tax season.
How it was funded: Bridal told the council the one-time setup fee is about $15,143 and that the assessor can cover the annual subscription from the office’s reassessment budget going forward. The council voted to use the county’s sales-disclosure fund to pay the initial setup fee; Councilmember Joe made the motion and Councilmember Mary seconded. Community Corrections representative Brett Barton told the council the sales-disclosure fund balance was “over 67,000, I think, the last we checked.”
Council action and next steps: The motion passed unanimously, 7-0. Bridal said the upgraded service will be optional for other county offices to use for uploading forms (for example, homestead or deduction forms) and that she has the budget authority to cover the recurring cost.
The council recorded the vote and moved on to other business; staff said the assessor will work with the auditor’s office to effect the initial transfer from the sales-disclosure fund and to implement the Beacon functionality.
