More help sought in assessor's office (01/06/2009)

The assessor's office is still in need of more help.

Jay County Assessor Terry LeMaster asked the commissioners Monday to upgrade another employee in the office from part-time to full-time status to help handle the workload in the personal property department. The upgrade would create a sixth full-time position in the office.

Due to statewide reforms, the duties of township assessors were eliminated July 1, bringing that work to the county level.

The commissioners and the Jay County Council have expressed reservations about creating more full-time positions for the office since no one is sure whether all the employees will be needed on that schedule year round.

Although the commissioners hesitated Monday to make a recommendation to pass along to the council, the commissioners agreed it would be better to keep ahead of the work, since slowdowns in the assessor's create logjams for entire taxing process and put stress on other departments in the courthouse come collection time.

County council members will have to decide at their next meeting if they're willing to fund the position.

In other business Monday afternoon, the commissioners:

•Signed an emergency claim to pay for a new copier in the EMA office.

By having a check ready for pickup today, the commissioners saved 15 percent ($749.25) off the cost of the normally-priced $4,995 copier.[[In-content Ad]]