Published: November 05, 2008 03:18 pm      

Voters do away with township assessor in Jeffersonville

Measure had been pushed as a way to shrink government

By a margin of less than 825 votes, Clark County voters chose to do away with the Jeffersonville Township Assessor’s office.

That means the work handled by the office — which assesses property value for tax purposes in Jeffersonville and Clarksville — will now be in the hands of Clark County Assessor Vicki Kent Haire.

As a result of the vote, Jeffersonville Township Assessor Vicki Conlin will be out of a job.

Conlin was called for comment as totals came in late Tuesday night, but the call was not returned.

More than 52 percent, or 9,638 residents, voted in favor of doing away with the office. Another 8,817 voted against it, or nearly 48 percent.

Voters in Floyd County followed suit, voting to do away with the New Albany Township Assessor’s office.

The vote goes back to higher-than-normal property tax bills that many residents received last year because of a new system of assessment. The new system used fair market value to determine taxes owed.

A report issued last year by the Commission on Local Government Reform, headed by former Gov. Joe Kernan and Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall Shepard, called for local government changes, including the elimination of township assessors.

The general assembly passed a piece of legislation, which mandated that townships with less than 15,000 parcels of real property be under the umbrella of a single countywide office.

Those with more than 15,000 parcels would face Tuesday’s vote. The Jeffersonville Township Assessor’s Office is responsible for about 30,000 parcels.

Haire supported keeping the Jeffersonville Township Assessor’s office.

During an interview last month, she said that regardless of the vote, her office would be ready to handle the extra work.

— The Associated Press contributed to this story



HOW YOU VOTED

On the ballot question regarding whether to consolidate the Jeffersonville Township Assessor’s work into the Clark County Assessor’s office:

• Yes: 9,638 (52.2%)

• No: 8,817 (47.8%)