July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Contract will save money
Letters to the Editor
Editor’s note: The following letter is in response to March 1 editorial titled “A blank check makes no sense.”
To the editor:
There is no blank check.
Before this editorial was published the facts should have been known.
The fact is the assessor’s office is doing the reassessment work “in-house” for the first time in the 21 years I have been in the assessing business. The bid that was accepted at $127,450 and the work it will cover is completely laid out within the contract. The $350 per day was added at my request because I wanted a set dollar amount, if and only, if the extra help is needed. The editorial stated these extra days are unlimited and that distorts the facts. Because the contract states “this is at the assessor’s discretion.”
This reassessment which begins July 1, 2014 is new. For the first time, Indiana will be assessing only one fourth of the county each year over four years and when this contract is over in 2018 a new four year contract will begin.
In prior years the reassessment would start March 1 and two years later the entire county was finished. The last reassessment was finished in 2012 and the cost was right at $300,000 paid out over 26 months, at $11,550 a month. This reassessment will also be paid monthly and the savings is evident. The current plan will be paid in 48 months instead of 26 months, the cost will be $2,655.21 a month. All the money mentioned above, that is used for reassessment, comes from a fund set up for the reassessment work and this fund does have a cap. Only a certain dollar amount is available for each reassessment.
The assessor’s office has a very knowledgeable staff and I know by handling most of the work in the assessor’s office we will save the county money. The firm that the commissioners chose to work with us on the new reassessment, has a computer program that our office currently utilizes – and this will help us do most of the work in-house.
So I will note again it is always best to know the facts before addressing a subject.
Diana Stults
Jay County Assessor
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To the editor:
There is no blank check.
Before this editorial was published the facts should have been known.
The fact is the assessor’s office is doing the reassessment work “in-house” for the first time in the 21 years I have been in the assessing business. The bid that was accepted at $127,450 and the work it will cover is completely laid out within the contract. The $350 per day was added at my request because I wanted a set dollar amount, if and only, if the extra help is needed. The editorial stated these extra days are unlimited and that distorts the facts. Because the contract states “this is at the assessor’s discretion.”
This reassessment which begins July 1, 2014 is new. For the first time, Indiana will be assessing only one fourth of the county each year over four years and when this contract is over in 2018 a new four year contract will begin.
In prior years the reassessment would start March 1 and two years later the entire county was finished. The last reassessment was finished in 2012 and the cost was right at $300,000 paid out over 26 months, at $11,550 a month. This reassessment will also be paid monthly and the savings is evident. The current plan will be paid in 48 months instead of 26 months, the cost will be $2,655.21 a month. All the money mentioned above, that is used for reassessment, comes from a fund set up for the reassessment work and this fund does have a cap. Only a certain dollar amount is available for each reassessment.
The assessor’s office has a very knowledgeable staff and I know by handling most of the work in the assessor’s office we will save the county money. The firm that the commissioners chose to work with us on the new reassessment, has a computer program that our office currently utilizes – and this will help us do most of the work in-house.
So I will note again it is always best to know the facts before addressing a subject.
Diana Stults
Jay County Assessor
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