FAYETTEVILLE — Washington County Assessor Jeff Williams said three new full-time positions for his staff will cost the county a little more than $2,274 in extra salary money in 2012.
“This is all part of the plan for where I want to take the office,” said Williams, who began his first term as assessor in January.
Williams hopes to eliminate six temporary positions that are held mostly by college students who work for the county part-time. Those students perform clerical and data entry duties, Williams said.
“Although you have six temporary people in the office, the amount of work they do only adds up to about two full-time staff members,” Williams said.
He plans to replace those positions with two new deputy assessors and a database administrator if the Quorum Court approves the new positions.
The county’s Personnel Committee gave its nod of approval to Williams on Monday night. The county’s Finance Committee and the full Quorum Court must also approve the positions later this month.
Williams told the Personnel Committee his budget could absorb the three new positions this year, if approved by the Quorum Court. Next year, the three new positions would add $26,560 to the assessor’s budget, he said.
However, the assessor’s budget is fully funded from a 1 percent commission off all real estate and personal property taxes collected within the county, Williams said.
The county and other public entities, such as school districts and cities, pay that commission, said comptroller Cheryl Bolinger.
Williams’ budget for 2011 is about $1.8 million, according to the county records. He said the county’s pays about 8 percent for that budget. About 81 percent come from county school districts and the remaining funds come from cities, Williams added.
Even though on paper Williams could be adding $26,560 to the assessor’s budget, about 8.5 percent of that will be the county’s $2,274 expense. The remainder could be technically funded by other public entities.