03-09-2007Harrison Township Trustee-Assessor Jim Moyer asked at Thursday’s county council meeting that a committee be established to discuss “personality conflicts.”
Moyer, president of the county trustee association, asked that county council members, the auditor and the assessor be part of the committee.
Councilman Larry Teghtmeyer said he would be willing to serve on the committee, and Charlene Knispel and Bob Sanders agreed to meet with the group. These three council members are looking into pay for trustee-assessors who also do the work of deputy assessors.
“It will be helpful to meet and discuss things, to better understand deadlines and workload,” Moyer said. “Because we don’t have an office in the courthouse, we sometimes feel excluded.”
Moyer said he recently attended the Indiana Township Association meeting in Indianapolis.
He said there were a couple of legislative bills that may concern the council.
In Senate Bill 287, anyone running for a township assessor’s office must have a level 2 assessors certification.
“This could cause problems in the future with candidates. All current assessors must have level 2 certification by 2008. The only other political office that has such requirement are judges who must be lawyers. The state township association opposes this rule,” Moyer said.
Prairie Township Trustee-Assessor Julie Goon presented copies of correspondence from the State of Accounts and from Waggoner, Irwin, Scheele and Associates, which reviews the county’s salary policies.
Last month, Goon asked if she could receive the deputy assessor’s per diem pay when she performed the deputy assessor’s duties. Most of the county trustee-assessors’ spouses hold the deputy assessor’s position. Goon has been the Prairie Township trustee-assessor for 27 years. Her husband, Karlton, is the deputy assessor.
“I do most of the assessing myself,” she said, “but my deputy takes the pay.”
Goon said her job as trustee-assessor is to oversee the assessing. The deputy assessor does the work.
The county council sets the township trustee-assessor wages, which are considered part-time and offer no benefits.
Sanders asked for clarification because at budget time there is a line item for the trustee-assessor and a line item for the deputy assessor.
“If you’re doing the job you’re elected to do, then taking the pay for a hired position, let’s just increase the trustee’s pay and do away with the deputy assessor’s position.”
Moyer said not all trustee-assessors work this way. In his case, he is the trustee-assessor, which is considered a part-time job, and he has a “40-hour” job. His deputy assessor (his wife, Tracy) does the on-site assessing work and he oversees it.
The rate of township assessor pay is based on the recorded assessment records. Each form is given a corresponding time value. For example, measuring and assessing a mobile home takes less time than a new residence without buildings.
Goon said the records are not a true indication of the work done.
“I sent out 837 assessing forms to taxpayers. I received 499, which were filed. You base the time on the 499 when I worked on 837,” she said.
The Prairie Township assessor also presented a township trustee-assessor job description.
After reviewing the SBA information and the legal opinion presented by Waggoner, Irwin and Scheele, council president Harold Jones said the legal opinion indicated the trustee-assessor could not take the deputy assessor’s pay. The SBA letter was not as straightforward and stated it was not a legal opinion.
“Fine,” Goon said. “I’ll just do my job.”
On the Net:
A 2007 list of township trustees, trustee-assessors and their deputies is available as a pdf download at www.kcgov.com Go to the bottom of the home page, click on “county offices,” click on “assessor” and click on “materials” on the left side of this page.