Published: July 15, 2008 09:54 pm            

TOWN OF NIAGARA: New tax assessor named

Darleen Sullivan promoted to new role

TOWN OF NIAGARA — For the first time in two decades, the town has a new property tax assessor.

Board members unanimously appointed Darleen Sullivan to fill the position left vacant last month by the retirement of longtime assessor Richard Hann. Sullivan, who had previously served as a clerk in the office, started her new role on Monday.

“She seemed like the natural choice based on her experience in the department already,” Deputy Supervisor Marc Carpenter said following Tuesday’s board meeting.

Sullivan said she has been a town employee for more than 26 years, including the last 20 in the assessor’s office. She will serve as acting assessor until she completes required state training and certification. The position pays about $42,000 a year.

After initially requesting for reappointment, Hann decided to retire last month, Carpenter said. He described the former assessor of 20 years as a “very knowledgeable person.”

Though she’s familiar with numerous aspects of the position already, Sullivan will face some tough challenges ahead as the board weighs the pros and cons of doing a townwide assessment. Carpenter said the last such assessment was close to 20 years ago.

In recent months, town board members have also discovered what Carpenter refers to as “assessment irregularities” in some of the town’s commercial properties that have been sold. In those cases, the adjusted assessment following the sale was not reflective of the price.

With Sullivan moving into her new role, the town will attempt to eliminate her clerk’s position through attrition by spreading the responsibilities to other employees and departments, board member Robert Herman said. The board also approve a resolution authorizing Supervisor Steven Richards to hire a part-time clerk if needed.

“We’re trying to utilize all of our manpower to save costs,” Herman said.

        

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