Assessor's Race: No Shortage of Frustration

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Robin Edwards' future as Perry County Supervisor of Assessments depends upon several things: 1.) whether loyalists to Edwards' grandfather, Republican Sheriff John Barber, and stepfather Democrat Treasurer Frank Mangin stay intact 2.) the size of this year's straight ticket Democrat turnout, and 3.) the pool of voters willing to overlook missed deadlines, stern warnings from the Illinois Department of Revenue for not getting it right (including threats from the state to eliminate the subsidy for half of Edwards' salary), and the most recent miscue--putting the county almost three months behind in getting out the 2008 tax bills.

Edwards apparently used old assessed valuations in the abstract she sent to the state in July to buffer an across-the-board 10 percent assessment increase for the incorporated areas of Du Quoin and Pinckneyville and a 13 percent assessment increase for the unincorporated areas inbetween. The Department of Revenue rejected the abstract and should have gotten a new one last week. On Monday, the Department of Revenue said it will certify its tentative multiplier for Perry County and tax bills should go out after the Nov. 4 election. That would make the first payment due in December and the second due in January 2009, the latest on record.

Finally, there hasn't been a complete hands-on quadrennial reassessment of Perry County in well over two decades. Yet, every county around us accomplished them like clockwork. Edwards can make a case for understaffing. Williamson County has 12, Jackson County has 10 and works off a township assessment system. Randolph County has eight. Edwards has a staff of five and a couple of parttime people.

One could argue there was no real impetus in the courthouse to fund the work in these though times. The cost of a catch-up reassessment is being put at between $200,000 and $300,000, whether the county contracts with an independent appraisal and assessment service or hires the staff to get it done. Most favor a completely independent reassessment.

For all these years, the assessment records have been made as current as possible through real estate sales records, home loan lending records and insurance valuations.

Edwards says her office gets some high marks: Her office has qualified for salary reimbursement from the state every year she has been in office. She has gotten a handful of state-subsidized bonuses for keeping a reasonable multiplier. She has never exceeded her annual budget. She contracted for services to provide the county with a Geographic Information System (GIS), which tends to benefit the county. She implemented Bulletin 810 on farmland assessments, but Perry County was the last in the state to do so. She hired the temporary help she needed to enter data into the mass appraisal software system in hopes of a 2010 reassessment. The same has been promised in every re-election bid.

While reassessment is a goal, there is no plan in place to execute or pay for a reassessment. And, a handful who are afraid to see what a reassessment would look like would just as soon not see it happen.

Edwards has been in the assessment office for 29 years, was first appointed to the position, then was elected to the position for the first time in 1996. Voters had the option in 2006 or returning to an appointive position, but opted to keep it elective.

Edwards is a lifetime resident of Perry County, grew up here and attended school in Du Quoin. In 1988, she moved to Pinckneyville after her marriage to husband, Randy. The couple has three children, Britany, 26, and twins Brooke and Brandon, 13. She started as a clerk in the Supervisor of Assessments office after high school and held that position for seven years. During that time she learned all aspects of the office and started taking courses to prepare her for the assessor's certification. She was appointed assessor in 1986.

Edwards' opponent is Du Quoin resident and Republican John Batteau, who has lost twice to Edwards in quadrennial elections.

For voters, their only litmus test is a two-year tour Batteau had as Williamson County Supervisor of Assessments between 1996 and 1998. Republicans there finally broke the choke hold Democrats had on the Williamson County board and advertised for a Supervisor of Assessments. Batteau was between losses to Edwards and applied for the job. He was appointed. Near the end of the two years, Williamson County Democrat playmaker Rex Piper forewarned Batteau that when Democrats reclaimed control of the board in 1998, Piper planned to reinstate former Democrat Supervisor of Assessments Jeff Robinson. Batteau appreciated the warning and true to his word, Piper ended Batteau's short tenure.

Edwards quotes from an interview with reappointed Williamson County assessor Jeff Robinson published August 4, 1999 in the Marion Daily Republican when it was determined that 1999 tax bills would be late.

Quoting from the interview, "We were more than a year behind when I came back," Robinson said. Robinson went on to add, "there were about 2,200 changes (under Bateau) handled by the Board of Review that would have normally been handled through the assessment office."

In fairness, the article goes on to say, however, that a decision made by the Williamson County treasurer and county clerk to switch computer software systems was a contributing factor to the delay. "We have had numerous problems with that," Robinson told the Marion Daily Republican at the time. "They could have waited until this year (1999).

Batteau supervised 12 employees represented by the AFSCME union in maintaining records on 42,000 parcels of property, well over twice the number of parcels in Perry County. The total assessed valuation there was $600 million.

Batteau resigned from his Williamson County job 60 days early to take a position as business manager with the Pinckneyville prison. Batteau's short-lived Republican replacement, Morgan Alsip, said that during Batteau's tour, the county had to pay all of Batteau's salary because the county multiplier grew to 1.13 instead of staying at 1.00. This information has not been confirmed.

Batteau served as the Pinckneyville prison's business manager for six years until retirement. While there, he helped formulate and manage multi-million dollar budgets and supervised payroll, purchasing and supply functions.

Batteau has a degree in government from SIU-C, has been a real estate broker since 1975, earned a CIAO appraisal designation in 1996. Like Edwards, he has ongoing hours of training.

Batteau was and has remained a land agent for the Illinois Central Railroad, now the Canadian National Railroad.

"Perry County seriously needs a property reassessment. It's needed because property values are so upside down and out of whack that the Illinois Department of Revenue had to step in and exercise oversight over the Perry County assessor's office. It negotiated a three-year deal with Perry County to get required work back on track. The language threatened to withhold our multiplier in 2007 as well as the assessor's $20,000 salary reimbursement unless the office improved," said Batteau. "Also, this year, the Department of Revenue again warned assessor Edwards that Perry County would be penalized if farmland 810 guidelines were not updated (our county is the last to comply in Illinois), if a valid reassessment plan wasn't put in place, and if property assessments didn't reflect accurate values. The truth is, assessor Edwards has had 20 years to do a reassessment, but she never has. My guess is she doesn't have the ability or inclination or know how to do it."

"The goal of reassessment is to revalue all property uniformly, fairly and equitably, to reflect current fair market values in our county. By doing a complete canvas of the county, we will pick up many unreported improvements and this should increase the total assessed valuation of the county. Overall, the process should spread out, equalize and reduce the impact of reassessment for individual property owners.

"My number one priority for the office is providing courteous service to the taxpayers. Additional priorities are to be a fulltime assessor, emphasize staff development and cross-training; make the office records more user friendly and accessible and last but not least meet required deadlines to make sure tax bills are sent out on time. I would attempt to deal with the many questions that arise in assessing people's property by honestly sharing all available information about the process and by following rules and required procedures.