Sunday, February 3, 2008
By DEBORAH GERTZ HUSAR
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
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PITTSFIELD, Ill. — Wearing official name badges and driving trucks with supervisor of assessment signs, Manatron employees are taking the measure of Pike County buildings.
What they find becomes part of a countywide quadrennial reassessment, the first done in Pike in more than 20 years.
The Pike County Board hired Michigan-based Manatron in August to finish the work by the end of 2008. The work otherwise would have had to be done by township assessors over at least three years.
"They're making progress," Supervisor of Assessments Cindy Shaw said.
Manatron reviewed and revised work turned in by township assessors for the first nine sections of Newburg, Flint, Spring Creek, Hardin and Perry townships, did data collection in Chambersburg Township and are working in Hardin.
"In the next couple of weeks, they're going to get started on Pittsfield and Newburg townships which consist of the town of Pittsfield," Shaw said.
The work to date already has found several structures not on the tax rolls or listed with incorrect property codes — one goal of the process along with providing equitable assessment across the county.
"This is the best way to go in the long run," Shaw said. "It will just be a lot more accurate."
Project manager Brent Dornon with Manatron said three to seven people will be going door-to-door at any time.
"When they go on the property, the first thing they do is try to locate someone, knock on the door. If no one is there, they leave a door hanger, then go about measuring," Shaw said.
How long the data collection takes varies depending on the type of structures involved. A simple ranch home may require 10-to-15 minutes on site, but a farm parcel with a house and 20 buildings will take longer.
"We're there the time required to capture the information we need," said Dornon, who has spent approximately 20 years as an appraiser/assessor.
On-site reactions from the public can vary, "but in general, if we explain what's happening and what we're doing, the public understands," Dornon said. "There's always some people that are resistant."
Data collectors measure and sketch the structure, take a photo and list characteristics "that indicate value" such as one- or two-story, basement, brick or vinyl, porches and decks.
"When we get back to the office, that is entered into our software system, Pro Val," Dornon said. "Once that's done, analysis takes place. Everything is based off the market. When those are done, they're reviewed — a quality control check to look at properties and values to make sure this is what the markets indicate. If there's any issues, we go through again until we're satisfied."
Manatron employees do the actual door-to-door work, but Shaw's office has preliminary work to do as part of the reassessment process.
"All the deeds are being pulled, all the mapping is being done. That's all given to Manatron so they can do the routing before they send the data collector out," Shaw said.
Keeping records up-to-date in the future should be a simple process with the Pro Val appraisal software.
"When an assessor brings in a new building, we enter that information into the appraisal system. That produces a property record card and an assessment for that improvement," Shaw said. "The program does it automatically."