County assessor seeks higher salary; staff warn township assessing changes could shift workload and revenue

The county assessor presented a proposed pay increase and discussed townships— assessing responsibilities during the June 23 finance meeting.

The assessor requested a salary increase to $70,000 and detailed the state—s half-salary reimbursement program: the county receives roughly half the assessor—s salary from the state (the assessor said $35,000 is the expected state reimbursement if the raise is approved). The assessor said the requested raise would better align the office with comparable local department heads and salary surveys and would cost the county about half the increase after state reimbursement.

The assessor also discussed township assessing. She said she had adjusted the township-assessing revenue projection to $0 because a recently passed county resolution may prompt townships to either perform their own assessments or contract with local township assessors rather than rely on the county. The assessor said the county must be prepared to step in and perform assessments for certain townships at an agreed rate if townships do not otherwise carry out the work. She noted that some townships have been late or inconsistent in distributing funds and that the county could, if necessary, deduct amounts from township distributions to recover assessing fees.

Committee members asked for a comparison of neighboring counties— assessor salaries and for documentation backing the requested increase. The assessor said she would provide salary-comparison materials (UCCI salary reports) and reiterated that approving the raise would increase the county—s budget by a modest amount once the state reimbursement is applied.