Boone Township

Name: Teresa Hiatt

Age: 51

Occupation: Not available

Years in office: 16

Population served: 761

Salary: $955

Parcels: 801

“With my constituents, I know who they are. I know their needs. I can be right there whereas someone from the county, it’s less convenient for my constituents.”

Monroe Township

Name: Annamarie Ryan

Age: 69

Occupation: Retired from Madison County Auditor office

Years in office: 6

Population served: 9,944

Salary: $10,030

Parcels: 9,377

“They’re all coming in here saying, ‘Annamarie, we don’t want someone from Anderson or Indianapolis coming in assessing our homes. We want someone local.’”

Van Buren Township

Name: Harvey (Bud) Stitt

Age: 68

Occupation: Not available

Years in office: 13

Population served: 2,046

Salary: $1,672

Parcels: 1,996

Duck Creek Township

Name: Jo Lynn Hussey

Age: 54

Occupation: Not available

Years in office: 5

Population served: 621

Salary: $955

Parcels: 682

Pipe Creek Township

Name: Wendy Kerr

Age: 36

Occupation: Not available

Years in office: 1

Population served: 13,168

Salary: $18,628

Parcels: 11,974

Jackson Township

Name: Karen Lumpkin

Age: 64

Occupation: Township trustee, manager of family farm

Years in office: 6

Population: 1,948 (2006 est.)

Salary: $1,311

Parcels: 1,634

“I guess I’m happy it went away. When I took the position six years ago, it was a minimal job and I did it as more of a public service job. It has become almost a nightmare keeping up with what the state wants.”

Lafayette Township

Name: Sue Morgan

Age: 78

Occupation: Farming

Years in office: 12

Population: 5,398 (2006 est.)

Salary: $9,069

Parcels: 4,692

“I hate losing the personal contacts. They want to privatize everything. They are taking the local government away from the people.”

Richland Township

Name: Richard Cleaver

Age: 68

Occupation: Retired from General Motors

Years in office: 26 years

Population: 5,133 (2006 est.);

Salary: $4,502

Parcels: 3,673

“The county assessing office will do a good job. That won’t be a problem.”

Union Township

Name: Linda Geiger

Age: 62

Occupation: Retired

Years in office: 2, with 16 years previously

Population served (2006 est.): 9,006

Salary: $8,596

Parcels: 5,674

“By living here in the township, I have known a lot of these people for years and years. They probably won’t get the same personal service.”

Anderson Township

Name: Patricia Davis

Age: 58

Occupation: Anderson Township Assessor

Years in office: 2 years

Population served (2006 est.): 57,651

Salary: $46,000

Parcels: 40,062

“It will absolutely not save any money. Everybody that is being replaced, the assessor will have to hire more people to do that work. The county’s pretty big. It’s not going to save any money.”

Green Township

Name: Greg Valentine

Age: 63

Occupation: Retired from Delphi Automotive, township trustee, homestead farmer.

Years in office: 8 years

Population served: 4,017 (2006 est.)

Salary: $2,150

Parcels: 4,700

“The taxpayers have lost the only ally they had in their locale. As of July 1, you’ve lost the only asset you had as far as a question about a pole barn, a garage or why you were assessed a certain way.”

Fall Creek Township

Name: Kelly Gaskill

Age: 42

Occupation: Former Guide employee, works part-time for husband’s insurance agency.

Years in office: 2

Population: 13,362 (2006 est.)

Salary: $10,030

Parcels: 7,570

“You know, maybe this is a good first step. I would love to see property taxes eliminated completely. It’s one of those touchy issues.”

Adams Township

Name: Melinda Padgett

Age: 54

Occupation: Former director of Advocacy Services for the Madison County Prosecutor’s Office.

Years in office: 14

Population: 3,831 (2006 est.)

Salary: $2,150

Parcels: 3,276

“It’s really sad for the people in the community. Nobody really cares about their area. It was a big job with little pay, but I don’t think consolidating into the county is the answer.”

Stony Creek Township

Name: Deena Smith

Age: 42

Occupation: Administrator for Pendleton Town Court

Years in service: 4

Population: 3,689 (2006 est.)

Salaries: $2,150

Parcels: 2,925

“I think the county assessors are going to be extremely overworked and underpaid.”