Logan County Assessor to step down

[August 10, 2016]  LINCOLN - On Tuesday, August 9, 2016, the Logan County Board Finance Committee held their monthly meeting. In part, discussion focused on the assessor, and board of review salaries.

Guests at the meeting were Board of Review employees Jane Ryan and Ann Curry, Circuit Clerk Mary Kelley, State's Attorney Jonathan Wright, and Logan County Public Health Departments Don Cavi and Katherine Yaple.

Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Ruben said Denise Martinek has announced plans to step down as assessor as of December. Martinek asked them to call for the test.

Ruben asked for a motion to call for the test. He said Sally Turner will call the Illinois Department of Revenue. They provide testing times and will provide a list of eligible candidates.

Ruben said the board will have to choose a new assessor from the Department of Revenue's list of eligible and qualified candidates, which he hopes will not take long. He said people who have already passed the test may already be qualified.

Committee member Rick Aylesworth asked if the salary is set in advance.

Ruben said it is not, but he wants to put in a larger budget figure in case a candidate says he or she will do the job for a certain amount of money. That way, money for the salary does not have to be moved from other funds.

Ruben will bring the motion to the full board Thursday.

Board of review employee salaries to be set

Ruben said the board needs to set salaries for board of review employees. Ruben looked at the rules and said he found these employees shall not be paid by per diem. He asked Jonathan Wright to look into it and said that was correct.

Ruben said they will finish the year out paying board of review employees per diem and put it in next year's budget as a flat rate. When the county board took it to per diem, board of review employees received $3,000 a year.

Ruben said all the employees on the board of review are new and have passed a test. There had never been a board of review that had done the testing, but now it is required by the state.

Ruben said as of April 2015, those on the board of review were paid between $1,200 and $1,400 per person. He said being on the board of review is a lot of work and pressure, and asked the employees what they would consider a fair salary.

 Board of Review member Jane Ryan said she researched what other counties pay, and found the lowest was $3,500. Ryan said $200 a meeting or $2,400 a year seems fair.

Ruben said the salary could be paid out monthly and divided by twelve.

Board member Kevin Bateman asked about the number of times the Board of Review meets.

Ruben said it varies depending on the number of property tax appeals, so it is not a consistent number of meetings.

Finance Committee member Rick Aylesworth said he would motion for $2,400 a year per Board of Review employee.

Ruben said $2,500 seems fair since Board of Review employees sometimes go through a lot of meetings, some of which can be "intense and contentious."

The motion will be brought before the full board at Thursday's workshop.

Finance Committee members present were committee Chairman Chuck Ruben, Vice Chairman Bob Farmer, Rick Aylesworth, Dave Blankenship, Gene Rohlfs and Adam Schmidt. Board Chairman David Hepler and board members Scott Schaffenacker and Kevin Bateman also attended the meeting.

[Angela Reiners]