County Assessor's Office to conduct field data collections on Thursday

Wednesday, December 18, 2024 at 2:00 AM

By Kathy Bottorff

The Marshall County Assessor’s Office will conduct a field data collection event this week on Thursday, December 19^th.

Peter Paul, County Assessor, told GIANT fm WTCA, “On Thursday, December 19, throughout the day, individuals from our office will complete field data collection in various parts of Marshall County.”

The Assessor explained that these are end-of-year checks for the completion of various new construction projects. The data collectors will be all over Marshall County, not in one targeted area.

The County Assessor’s Office doesn’t have a county-owned vehicle, so they will use a rental vehicle to conduct the required work. What type of vehicle they will be using won’t be known until Thursday morning. Paul said they will try to attach identification magnets to the vehicle's doors, but not all doors are made of metal, and sometimes it’s not possible.

The Assessor said, “If the employee conducting the field data has any questions about a specific project, they may attempt to contact the owner, but generally, these are follow-up visits to observe the completeness of the project for the January 1 assessment date. In many cases, they have already been to the property for an initial visit and compared the project with the permit characteristics. This is likely more information than you may want or need.”

Last month, the County Assessor’s Office was conducting field data collections, and folks on Facebook expressed concerns about a vehicle observing homes in particular areas, thinking it was a bit suspicious. There were also concerns because the vehicle had out-of-state license plates.

The Marshall County Sheriff’s Department is notified of the data collection dates, but if someone is concerned, they can call their police department and report their concerns. Providing this information to the public before the data collection will hopefully detour many calls to the police departments.