Two former township assessors asked the Kosciusko County Council for help Thursday.
Attorney Steve Snyder, representing former Tippecanoe Township Assessor Dorothy Biesemeyer and Turkey Creek Township Assessor Patty Gammiere, spoke to the council."Dorothy and Patty were elected and still have time on their terms," Snyder said.
Township assessors' duties were eliminated by new state legislation effective July 1. After the elimination of their duties, Biesemeyer and Gammiere worked in the assessor's office because the state legislation stipulated that counties retain township assessors until the end of 2008 to help with the transition.
County Assessor Laurie Renier terminated them at the end of the year and hired two other applicants to work in her office.
Both Biesemeyer and Gammiere presented budgets to the council for 2009. Since their duties had been eliminated, the budgets consisted mainly of their salaries. The council rejected their budgets during budget hearings in September.
"So we have two elected officials who have no job, no benefits and can't apply for unemployment," Snyder said.
He said elected officials are excluded from unemployment benefits.
Snyder told the council the state's legislation eliminated township assessors' duties, not their positions. He said there is still state legislation that mandates that townships appropriate money to pay township assessors.
"Both of these ladies want to work. The question is, do we just discard elected officials when the legislature does away with their duties?" Snyder said. "What both these ladies are looking for is some sort of relief."
Snyder said Biesemeyer and Gammiere want the county to provide jobs for them in the assessor's office until the end of their terms in 2011, or salaries with minimal compensation and benefits.
The council took no action on the request Thursday, but Snyder asked them to take it under consideration.
Council President Harold Jones said he wants to review the request, though he said the council took Biesemeyer's and Gammiere's plights into consideration at budget time.
"If there's something new there, we should take a look at it," Jones said. "But, as long as there's nothing new, I don't see any reason to revisit it."
In other news, the council approved a tax abatement for Bradican Real Estate Partnership. The abatement period is seven years. The abatement is on real property, but not on personal property.
The council also approved the appointment of Mary Joan Plew to the Pierceton Washington Township Library Board and Kenneth Johnson to the Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
