Iroquois County assessor seeks dedicated GIS/IGA funds to hire help as township assessor vacancies grow

Mia, Iroquois County assessor, told the county finance committee that vacancies among township assessors have left her office absorbing extra work and that she wants IGA revenue and GIS fees tracked so the assessor—s office can hire temporary help.

The request matters, Mia said, because the county must meet state assessment standards and the extra work (sketching parcels, entering data into the county—s Canvas system and field work) is stretching current staff. She said her office already collected $7,800 this year from intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) with townships and proposed setting aside larger sums for part-time seasonal help or a field worker. "I don't want to spend any money unless I brought it in," Mia said, but added that the work is mounting as vacancies persist and some townships are not appointing assessors.

Committee members and finance staff described how the county currently records that IGA revenue and what would be required to spend it. Jill, county finance staff, told the committee that revenue from township-assessing IGAs is already posted to the general fund under a line labeled "township assessing fees," but that using those receipts for additional hires or expenses would need to be reflected in the assessor—s departmental budget. "If you want to expend it out, you would have to open the budget and amend her lines to show that you're expending out that much money," Jill said.

Mia gave specific staffing and cost context. She said hiring a full-time employee (salary plus fringe) would cost about $50,000; she proposed starting by re-hiring two college students who worked for the assessor last summer and estimated roughly $6,000 in part-time wages for the near term. She also discussed the idea of placing a portion of the GIS special fund into an interest-bearing account or certificate of deposit; another committee member said Livingston County had used a CD to earn roughly $7,000.

Multiple board members urged caution about routinely opening and amending the general fund budget outside the annual cycle. One member summarized the finance office—s position: departments that bring in revenue do so into the general fund and any request to increase spending requires the normal budget amendment process. Committee members said ad hoc amendments can erode the county—s fund balance if done repeatedly.

The group discussed other steps short of immediate spending: more outreach to townships to encourage hiring assessors, a presentation at the county—s tax committee to detail where IGA dollars are generated and used, and pursuing IGAs with townships that currently lack assessors so revenue would be available. Mia said several townships are likely to sign agreements or contract with neighboring assessors, which would increase IGA revenue but would still require the committee to authorize any mid-year salary spending.

The committee asked the assessor and finance staff to bring a clearer budget proposal and line-item recommendations to the next tax committee meeting, including the amount Mia wants available for summer part-time help and how that would be shown in the assessor—s budget. Finance staff advised that the standard approach is to include the request in the next budget cycle or, if necessary, seek a one-time amendment and monitor general fund impacts.

Why this matters: County assessors must produce equitable property valuations and state compliance metrics (the assessor said the county—s coefficient-of-dispersion metric is outside the preferred range), and the workload from unfilled township positions has direct implications for assessment accuracy and fairness.

What—s next: The assessor will bring a specified dollar amount and a proposal for hiring part-time summer staff to the tax committee; finance staff said it will explain whether a budget amendment would be needed and the likely timetable for approval.