NORWICH – Town of German Supervisor Richard Schlag has seen the writing on the wall for some time now: The state’s push for municipalities to switch from an elected board of assessors to just one assessor.
And it isn’t necessarily what small towns like German want, he said.
An assessor himself back in the 1980s and 90s, Schlag said he has watched as the New York State Office of Real Property Services has piled on more and more expensive training and licensing requirements for the traditionally low-paying job. Assessors earn $250 per year or $500 after they take their first of seven weeks worth of training classes. Some of the added requirements today include industrial and commercial property assessment courses.
“Change has been a long time coming. The state wants every assessor to be trained at a level to go out anywhere and be hired,” Schlag said. “We keep having to pay more and more money. That’s very hard for us at town-level salaries as they still exist in a place like German.”
Joe Hesch, a spokesman for the New York State Office of Real Property Services, said his office has been in support of having a single appointed assessor for some time. Each municipality can have their own or they can share assessors to defray the cost, he said.
“Our agency has been of the opinion for a long time that it’s better to have a professional full-time assessor than a part-time board for the primary reason that it’s all they do, full time,” he said. The job would come with a continuing education requirement to maintain certification.
Elected assessors have to meet minimum qualifications and take certain classes, but there’s no requirement for continuing education.
German, Norwich and Guilford are the only three towns that elect an assessment board in Chenango County. Other municipalities, like the town of North Norwich, already appoint an assessor. The Town of Sherburne, for one, shares its assessor with neighboring Columbus.
Several years ago, Guilford had an appointed assessor. Supervisor Alton B. Doyle said it bothered citizens to have the same person year after year, and when he was finally replaced, it became difficult to keep the job filled. Having a board has meant fewer turnovers.
“We had some problems keeping assessors. They would come and go, and our tax base took a little bit of a beating from it. Now we have what appears to be three who are doing their job well,” he said.
The job is unpopular and difficult, Schlag said. Having a board of two or three enables differing opinions about a given issue or property to be heard as well as spreads out the responsibility.
“We like having a board, and as long as we can manage to do so we will,” Schlag said.
Town of Norwich Supervisor David C. Law said he had no opinion whether an appointed assessor would be more advantageous than the town’s elected board. “It’s not the supervisor’s job to be involved in assessing. The assessing board makes decisions and I have to abide by them. The town board has nothing to do with it,” he said.