The Marion County Board on an 8-7 vote has agreed to keep Mark Miller as Supervisor of Assessments. While the vote appears close, two-thirds of the board members had to agree to get rid of Miller.
The decision upset most of the crowd estimated at 150 that filled the large third floor courtroom and the rotunda of the courthouse where several spoke about the poor job they thought Miller was doing. Several business owners said unequal assessments were keeping new developments out of Marion County while others were choosing to expand elsewhere.
Neal Smith of Little Egypt Golf Cars presented information on the disparity of assessments for various businesses properties in Salem, something Miller later said were the calculations of the Salem Township Tax Assessor and not his office. Miller said he did not alter the work of the township tax assessors. But County Board Chair Steve Whritenour quickly reminded Miller he had the ability to correct the work of township assessors and charge the townships.
The vote to keep Miller followed a lengthy closed session. Those voting to keep Miller were Sharon Woodward, Deb Reid, Tim McCance, Judith Meeks Hakim, Chris Krupp, Adam Smith, Debbie Smith and David Iossi. The no votes came from Whritenour, Brock Waggoner, Cody Rose, Jack Riley, Tracy Murray, Dr. Michael Douglas and Josh Dunahee.
Whritenour expressed his frustration with the decision to keep Miller after the vote.
“I haven’t heard a plan until last Monday, and that was pulling 500 cards out of the filing cabinet and going by the oldest ones,” Whritenour said. “In nine years, I think we should have had something a little bit quicker than that, and we haven’t. I feel sorry for the taxpayers of this county, I feel sorry that the level of service that they got is atrocious, and we have to start fixing this. We as a county board are going to start fixing this. Mark Miller is going to be here for the next eleven months. Hopefully we have a smooth transition of power to whoever his replacement is, but we have to start acting now.”
Miller reacted to the vote to keep him as Supervisor of Assessments.
“I appreciate those who voted for me. I believe I’ve been doing a good job,” Miller said. “Unfortunately, there is a small faction of the county who believe otherwise. The overwhelming majority in this county believe I’m doing a good job.”
Miller says limited staff was an issue and he’s willing to work with the county board on how to make the assessments more accurate.
“Well, it’s up to the board. It’s their money. If they want to, I’ll help them any way I can, absolutely. I will still be retiring at the end of this year. I just hope that they take this to heart, that they need to start looking for somebody to replace me. This is not an easy position to fill. With all of the qualifications, it’s going to be difficult. They don’t want to be without a supervisor of assessments.”
Miller continued to blame part of the problem on houses selling for more than they are worth for inequities in assessed value and sale value.
Members of the public in attendance fill the courtroom at Monday night’s Marion County Board meeting. Photo by Bruce Kropp.
