As Chief Assessor of the County, the Auditor is responsible for establishing the value of all property, real and personal, in the County. Every six years the Auditor must conduct a full reappraisal of real property. Every three years, the Auditor must conduct an update of real property values. Each year, the Auditor assesses the values for manufactured homes and registers the manufactured homes. The Auditor also assesses the taxes for personal property after examining the tax returns. At any time the Auditor discovers property that has been omitted from the duplicate, the Auditor is to place it on the duplicate and assess any taxes that were also omitted.

At the time of the sexennial reappraisal, the Auditor must physically inspect every property in the County. The Auditor must also prepare appraisal manuals that will be used to determine values over the following six years. In order to accomplish this task, the Auditor will prepare specifications and requirements for the reappraisal and prepare requests for proposals. After the review of the proposals, the Auditor will select a private contractor to perform the work. Both the contractor and the contract must be approved by the Tax Commissioner. The Auditor directly oversees the work of contractor and where possible performs some of the work with Auditor’s employees.

Three years after the sexennial reappraisal, the Auditor conducts an update of the sexennial values. This update is a statistical analysis of all sales during in the interim period. The Auditor may conduct the update either entirely in house or hire an independent contractor. At the conclusion of both the sexennial and triennial appraisals, the Auditor must notify every property owner of the changes in their values. The Auditor must also recalculate the Current Agriculture Use Valuations at the same time. The Auditor must rely on the information supplied by the property owners as to crop and soil types, topography, and on the valuation tables prepared by the Tax Commissioner.

When a municipality has lots that are not consecutively numbered, the Auditor, with the Recorder and mayor of the municipality, may consecutively renumber the lots. The new numbers are then entered upon the Auditor’s plat records and recorded with the Recorder. The Auditor also vacates any plats and issues a certification after the appropriate action by the Commissioners.

The Auditor is responsible for transferring ownership of all real property in the County and placing the new owners names and values on the appropriate tax duplicates. In conjunction with the County Engineer, the Auditor may establish standards for the transfer or conveyance of real property.