By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Barton County Appraiser Wendy Prosser will remain in her post for at least another year. She was elevated from interim county appraiser on July 1, 2021, in a contract that was designed to be for four years to align with most other counties in the state. Tuesday morning, the Barton County Commission approved an employment agreement that will extend her contract to June 30, 2025. County Counselor Patrick Hoffman explained the issue to the board.
"County appraiser is a unique position in the county in that it is an unelected department head of an important county department, but it also answers or has review by the state of Kansas directly on their valuations and their standards they have to employ," he said. "For that reason, almost every county has a contract with their county appraiser in addition to their typical employment agreement."
Prosser thanked the commission for the extension, but also thanked the Barton County taxpayers for their patience in what has been a turbulent market.
"Barton County has been a really great place to work," she said. "It's challenging, but the taxpayers have been so great about asking questions and coming in and talking to us. Even through the high valuation spike we had through COVID, it's been a great learning opportunity to get to work with the taxpayers of Barton County."
To be in compliance with state regulations, appraised values are supposed to be within 10 percent, or between 90 and 110 percent, of real-market values. Barton County had been sitting in the low 70s and out of compliance but work done by Prosser's office has brought the number back to approximately 101 percent.
"That means that, when properties sell," Prosser said, "they're coming in right around the county's appraised value, which is what my job is to do."