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NAVAJO COUNTY –Crushing workloads mixed with salary disparity, have caused Navajo County Assessor Cammy Darris to question how her staff will be able to execute all the functions required of her office as the budget presentations continued before the Navajo County Board of Supervisors at the March 26 meeting.
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While Darris took time to showcase her staff, she also put out the real numbers of not only what the budget cuts are doing, but also the salary disparities within the county. “Coconino County has 17 appraisers with 3,000 parcels per appraiser,” said Darris. “I have six field appraisers with 8,600 parcels per appraiser. In 2008, my office had 23 staff members. Today, there are 17 staff members, which is a 25 percent decrease over the last 10 years.”
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The database provided by the Assessor’s Office is used by nearly every department and office within the county as well as realtors and business people from around the state. “We don’t just do taxes, we do a lot more than that,” said Darris.
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“We are going to continue to do the best job we can with what we have,” continued Darris. “But my biggest concern is the issues we have within Navajo County. My office lost a good employee that went to another department within the county because she could make 20 percent more than she was making in my department. You, as the supervisors, can make the salaries consistent within all departments.”
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Aside from the disparity, Darris warned that with the budget cuts would come delays in new construction and in property transfers as well as 911 addressing. “We currently are able to address most requests within a week,” said Darris. “Those same time frames could become four to six weeks and there will be an increase in the turn-around of fee-based services.”
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Treasurer Debra Kester shared that her office oversees not only the property tax collections but also the Navajo County banking, which includes school districts and the special districts of fire, road, water and sewer as well as departments within the county. The Treasurer’s Office insures the banking reports are submitted timely and accurately and all audit requests are met. If the tax levies are not paid out in a timely manner, then three of the county school districts, Joseph City, Show Low and Blue Ridge, which receive most of their funding through taxes, are forced to use their lines of credit to make payroll, which creates an additional loss of revenue due to the interest payments.
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“In 2001 we had eight employees, now in 2019 there are six employees,” said Kester. “We are currently unable to provide the level of service I would like to see because I am understaffed.”
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Like the Assessor’s Office, the Treasurer’s Office has one of the largest parcel per employee ratios in the state with 18,000 parcels per employee. With the potential loss of an employee to the budget cuts, those numbers will go to 22,000 parcels per employee.
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Kester further noted, “Every type of payment requires a staff member to process it and that is 90,000 plus payments. Thirty-eight percent of the tax payments are manually entered and our office received over 21,000 phone calls last year with an average of 1,700 per month.”
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“Losing one employee will trickle down through the whole county,” continued Kester. “Calls being unanswered, delayed payments, counter wait times increasing and closing escrow delays. The tax delinquencies will continue to grow. My office staff is barely treading water with the current numbers.”
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Recorder Doris Clark had a similar story as she shared when she came on in 2017 the department was unable to fill one of the voter outreach positions due to budget cuts. “We were able to get through the election with a temporary person and now we are trying to figure out how we can make more reductions,” said Clark.
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After careful consideration, Clark noted that her department was able to deduct six percent of the budget from the recording portion and eight percent from the voter registration.
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“For next year’s budget, I don’t know where else we can possibly cut,” said Clark. “We are working with a new voter registration system that we will have to purchase soon. We are using a vehicle that is 12 years old with close to 200,000 miles. If there is an award for the longest running vehicle it has to be our Tahoe. We need a new vehicle but we are not able to spend the extra money on extra things like that as we are being asked to reduce our costs.”
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With all the current reductions Clark said that she and her staff are beginning to see customers, which include, title companies, real estate professionals and homeowners, get frustrated because things are not being done in a timely manner. “More reductions are going to slow things down even more,” said Clark.”With the budget cuts this year, it will be tough and it will get tougher next year.”
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Supervisor Jesse Thompson weighed in, saying, “We are going to ask the public to be patient with us because of the budget decrease and we need to recognize the issues we have.”
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Vice Chairman Jason Whiting noted that the number of transactions and phone calls will most likely only increase. “Now we are going down a vicious cycle that doesn’t help anyone. The state legislature is very unaware of what is going on in the counties. We need to keep them aware; from the state cost shifts to continued budget cuts. This has been eye opening to me and I hope that folks are listening to what is being shared as it will impact our citizens negatively because of what will need to be cut.”
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Regarding the salary disparities that Darris mentioned Whiting said, “Talking about the inequalities of the salaries, that we can address within our walls and we need to find ways to address that appropriately. What you are doing matters and we appreciate it.”
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Chairwoman Dawnafe Whitesinger said, “The education is important for us. I feel like a broken record. It’s a hard thing to say thank you for doing what you are doing and for doing it with less.”
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County Manager Glenn Kephart thanked the women for their honesty, candor and leadership. “I think what they shared and presented are teams of good people that are working hard to provide the needed services at the highest level possible. I appreciate the leadership from all three offices, and their desire to work with the county as a team.”
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In other business, the board:
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* Approved a one-year renewal of the contract with Silver Creek Mortuary for storage and transport to assist the Medical Examiner’s Office.
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* Approved the 2019 General Provisions amendments to the Cooperative Fire Rate Agreement with Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management.
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* Presented medals and a plaque to the Mogollon High School girls basketball team for winning the 1A State Championship.
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* Presented medals and certificates to Breck Williams, a student at Show Low Junior High School, and Tanner Fellows, a student at Show Low High School, for winning State Wrestling Championships in their respective weight classes.
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* Approved a liquor license application for Sandy Kay May at Sandi’s Hideaway in Show Low and for Karin Louise Hemesath at Gigi’s Pizza and More in Overgaard.
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*Approved the award of two-year contracts to WW Cattle Guards, LLC and Oldcastle Infrastructure for the supply and delivery of concrete and steel frame cattle guards.
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* Approved the official canvass of the March 12 special election for the Timberland Acres Domestic Water Improvement District.
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* Approved the sale of 21 back tax land parcels over the counter in the amount of $7,901. The parcels included Assessor’s Parcel Numbers (APN) 105-60-192; 206-28-140; APN 105-09-003D; 105-09-164; 105-14-039B; 105-38-014; 105-52-089; 105-52-090; 105-52-249; 105-53-032; 105-53-232; 105-53-233; 105-53-234; 105-53-235; 105-54-068; 105-54-087; 105-54-235; 105-58-536; 105-58-428; 105-65-274 and 106-02-412.
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* Approved the Gila River Indian Casino grant application for Heber-Overgaard Fire District to purchase extrication equipment.
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* Approved the appointment of Kelley Dowdle as Justice Court Pro Tempore.
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* Approved the 2019 Fair Housing Proclamation, proclaiming April as “Fair Housing” month in Navajo County.
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* Approved the memorandum of understanding for the Mexican Wolf recovery and management.
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* Approved the sale of a 2006 Ford F25 Crew Cab 4X4 with 112,400 miles to the Navajo County Fair Board for $1.
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* Accepted the letter to the board from Recorder Doris Clark, indicating her intent to terminate the agreement to be responsible for the operation and administration of election services as of July 1, 2019.
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* Approved the Constable Ethics Standards and Training Board grant in the amount of $3,566 for National Conference Training.
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* Approved the application for treasurer’s deed for the State of Arizona for the purchase of back tax properties in the amount of $53,700.
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* Approved 31 tax exemptions as a request for redemption of waiver.
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