The proposal to combine assessor offices in Story County has raised some eyebrows throughout Ames, despite the statewide trend toward combinations. Iowa currently has eight city assessors, compared to 21 in 1963.

“Polk County merged about 10 years ago, and Blackhawk County, where the University of Northern Iowa is, merged in the ’80s,” said Story County Assessor Wayne Schwickerath.

Former Ames City Assessor Richard Horn formally resigned Aug. 15, which sparked the idea of combining the offices.

“Based on my experience here, unless they start cutting staff or salary or benefits, there is not much room to save a substantial amount of money,” he said.

Horn said he is confused about what the city is trying to accomplish by proposing the combination of offices.

“The mayor had told the Ames Tribune that this is a great opportunity and time to do it. I asked them why, because I can’t see significant cost savings to Ames. Nobody answered my question,” he said. “I wanted to know why you would want to do this if you are representing Ames and I was disappointed to see this was seriously being considered when it makes no sense.”

Schwickerath said no staff or service would be eliminated if the offices were combined.

An estimate of approximately $200,000 would be saved initially — the total cost analysis should be done in about two to three weeks, he said.

Horn said a savings of at least $265,000 would be needed to justify the combination.

“There should be other savings down the road, once things are streamlined,” Schwickerath said. “Some of the cost benefits come with eliminating overlapping expenses.”

Horn said there is no duplication or overlap of jurisdiction or duties between the assessor offices, and combining them would actually result in increased costs with daily travel time between Ames and Nevada.

Another concern Horn had is Ames’ representation on the City of Ames’ Board of Review and Story County’s Board of Review.

Schwickerath said the City of Ames would have representation on both boards. There are three people on the county’s board and five on the city’s.

“We’re looking at increasing the members from three to five on the county side to include representation of Ames. We can make an agreement that will guarantee the city will have at least two people, maybe even three, on the board, and will have that in writing,” he said. “We try to have representatives from all over, but because Ames has more population, then we can give them more representation.”