Candidates talk assessor leadership, county growth

FAYETTEVILLE — Russell Hill, a Republican, will face William Chesser, a Democrat, for the seat of Washington County assessor.

Hill, the incumbent, was first elected in 2014 and is running for his third consecutive term. With recent changes in state law, the assessor will serve a four-year term beginning in 2019.

The responsibility of the assessor’s office is to discover, list and value property in the county. “We want to do that with the utmost accuracy and integrity, but I have four core values that I created to keep us on track,” Hill said.

Hill said he would continue to promote those values of nonpartisanship, accuracy, superior customer service and wisdom gleaned from pairing experience with education.

“To be nonpartisan is our true North, and that means to treat everyone equally, free from favoritism, self-interest or bias. That’s probably the golden rule in the assessing world,” he said. “With service, we need to serve our customers needs with the highest integrity and understanding. Of all the county offices, we do the most in-person interaction, over-the-phone interaction and online interaction than

any county office throughout the year.”

The office also needs to educate the public, he said. He said he has informational booths at numerous events in the county.

“I’ve taken a very active role personally with public relations for the office in every form and fashion,” Hill said. “I don’t know any assessor in the state that is out more publicly than me. I don’t know of a county official that is out there more publicly than me.”

The office receives a lot of compliments on its free public property search website, Hill said, which is used most by banks, Realtors, title and insurance companies. In 2016, Washington County became the first county in Arkansas to have daily updates on its search site.

“I wanted to run at the speed of business. It been an advantage not just to those businesses but the people they represent,” Hill said. “We are looking now at going from daily updates to real time. That’s the next step.”

He has also made it easier to assess business properties by placing forms and spreadsheets online, he said.

“Now is not the time to bring in somebody that really doesn’t have a clue what the job is,” he said. “Business is

booming again and it can be challenging to the office. You need someone in here that knows what they are doing, knows what they are talking about and knows how to value property.”

Hill oversees a $4.4 million budget and about 34 employees, according to the county budget.

If elected, Chesser said one of the first things he would do is try to raise the salaries of some of the lowest paid, full-time employees in the assessor’s office.

“A lot of the staff members that have 40-hour-a-week jobs are making like $20,000 to $22,000 a year. I have no idea how you function on that salary. No matter who is sitting in the chair of assessor, the lion’s share of the work in that office is done by the people in that office,” he said.

“It’s really important to me to make sure those people are taken care of. I feel like people should be paid at least a living wage and I don’t think that is a living wage.”

The lowest paid position in the office is Deputy Assessor I with an annual salary ranging from $26,289-28,267, according to the 2018 budget.

The assessor doesn’t need to take a bunch of classes that taxpayers pay for, because property appraisal is contracted out and there are professionals with mandated levels of training in the office, Chesser said.

“There is a certain amount I want to know so I can interface with the subcontractor and with the people in the office. But, I let experts do their job,” he said.

He believes the county assessor’s role should expand and take on more of a leadership role in the county, he said.

“The judge has a lot of things on his or her plate. To me, the clearest person that should be working on land planning issues is the assessor,” Chesser said. “As a county that is the No. 3 place consistently to live, we are getting growth. We need to be planning for this.”

Chesser has served on the planning commission and board of adjustment in Fayetteville.

He said he would focus on making it easier for businesses to assess property in the county.

Chesser has experience as a software instructor and said website interface is important to him. He would work to improve the assessor’s website so people would not have to come into the office, he said.

The assessor earns $103,531 annually. The salary is based partly on state law and Hill’s experience. The election is Nov. 6. Early voting begins Oct. 22.