By Susan Redden

sredden@joplinglobe.com

CARTHAGE, Mo. — Six Jasper County residents are seeking an office where property owners directed at least 4,061 protests a year ago.

That’s the number of informal appeals that were lodged with the county assessor’s office in the wake of the 2007 property reassessment. About 800 property owners took their disagreements on to a county appeals board, and some of those pressed additional appeals with the state, or in court.

Yet a half-dozen candidates are running for the office of county assessor on the Republican primary ballot in August.

There are no candidates running on other county ballots, so the winner will replace Don Davis, also a Republican, who was elected eight years ago and decided not to seek another term.

Davis took office in the midst of the county’s first full-scale reassessment in four years, after the process was delayed while the office was installing a new computerized mass appraisal system. Appraised values of real estate in the county jumped more than 40 percent and the assessor’s office was flooded with protests, including many filed with county and state appellate boards by property owners worried about how those higher property values would translate to higher property taxes.

Davis attributed some of the problems to the new appraisal system, and replaced it 2005. But because of delays in installing that new system, the office did only a limited reappraisal that year and the office was swamped again with protests after the 2007 reassessment. The rate of increase in residential property values was less than earlier — averaging 11 percent — which also prompted some questions from school districts counting on more revenue from property taxes.

The office also is one that depends on state revenues for most of its financing and has oversight from the Missouri State Tax Commission, which oversees laws concerning property tax.

The race involves four candidates with experience in the assessor’s office and real estate, including one current worker who sought the post eight years ago. The successful candidate, though essentially “elected” in August, won’t take office until the following September, after the 2009 reassessment.

Like most other elected officials in the county, annual pay for the post is $59,000.

Larry Carsten is a deputy assessor who has worked in the office since 1985. Other former office workers seeking the post are Danny Drake and Connie Alumbaugh-Hoover. Jeff Hammons owns an insurance firm, but cites experience as a real-estate developer. Also seeking the post are Gary Allison and Brent Hensley, who both cite backgrounds and education in business and management.

Drake works as a certified real-estate appraiser and previously was employed by the assessor’s office. He said he has 12 years of property-valuation experience and management skills, through ownership of a business.

He said he wants to provide residents with “an experienced assessor that is both fair and accurate.” If elected, he said he would provide fairness and keep property information updated with technology that can allow residents convenient access to valuation information.

Alumbaugh-Hoover worked in the assessor’s office from January 2002 through October 2005 in market study, field review and data entry. She also attended the 2005 national convention of the firm that produces the software now used to assess property in Jasper County.

She said her goals, if elected, are to continue to expand on the county’s geographic information system and to encourage use of the site for taxpayer information, to lower the number of informal and formal appeals of property values, and to make sure all property is on tax books at true market value.

Hensley cited 23 years in dealing with people, first as a funeral home director, then in management at Target in Joplin.

If elected, he said he wants to provide fairness and consistency in property values. He said he will be available to residents for assessor questions and will continue to help advance county technology using online information.

Hammons cited as his qualifications 20 years of experience as a business owner, including 15 years in construction and development of residential subdivisions and homes, and 17 years in insurance, five as a business owner.

He said his goals, if elected, first will be to learn the job, and then to make himself and the office more accessible to the public. He said he also will teach basic consecution methods to staff and implement training for each position. He said he also will move forward with computer software to make information accessible on the Internet, open satellite offices and work with the state on a law to cap taxes on real estate for those over age 60.

Allison now works with the Carthage Parks Department and said he has worked seven years as a supervisor overseeing at least 60 people. He also cited computer, leadership and people skills.

He said he wants to restore public service to the assessor’s office, lobby in Jefferson City on property-assessment issues, and be available to the pubic to answer their questions.

If elected, he said he would be accessible to the public and make certain everyone receives a fair assessment based on the law.

Carsten said he is “the only candidate who knows all facets of the job.” He said he enjoys serving the pubic and, if elected, would “focus on actual appraisals within a mass appraisal application to assure each property is considered on an individual basis.” He said he also would give the office “a person that knows the work, and will get much in need of fixing, fixed.” He said his office would always be open and responsive to residents and that each property would be treated as unique.

Drake, 46, lives at 1429 W. Central St., Webb City and works as a certified real-estate appraiser. He is a lifelong county resident, a high-school graduate who has completed training and continuing education in property valuation.

Alumbaugh-Hoover, 54, lives at 1520 Grand Ave., Carthage, and is a real-estate investor and landlord. She is a lifelong county resident, and a graduate of Carthage High School with work experience in the assessor’s office and in the real-estate business.

Hensley, 41, lives in Joplin and is an executive team leader for Target Stores. He is a longtime county resident and a gradate of Carthage High School. He holds an associate’s degree from St. Louis Community College, a bachelor’s degree from Missouri Southern State University and a master’s degree in human resource development from Pittsburg State University.

Hammons, 43, 703 Rose Lane, Carl Junction, is owner of Hammons Insurance. He is a longtime area resident who attended Neosho High School and Central Missouri State university.

Carsten, 53, 2344 Vandalia St., is a deputy assessor and a longtime county resident. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Missouri Southern State University, and 160 hours of course work from the International Association of Assessing Officers.



Appeals

It’s not a reassessment year, but large numbers of property owners are meeting with the Jasper County Board of Equalization to protest property appraisals. Some of the appeals include people still unhappy with property values set in countywide reassessment last year.