No Extra Help In Waddington

WADDINGTON - Town officials have elected not to hire additional help for Waddington Town Assessor Kenneth L. Pierce following a special board meeting this week.

The board discussed hiring additional help for Mr. Pierce at the July meeting at the request of a concerned resident, who said the work load associated with a total revaluation of Waddington properties would be too much for him to handle on his own.

But Town Supervisor Mark Scott said that after meeting with Mr. Pierce he believes the work can be done by the assessor. He said if it appears Mr. Pierce cannot finish the assessments on schedule and requests additional help, then the issue will be revisited.

At the July meeting, board members hired Darlene Reagen of St. Lawrence County Office of Real Property to assist Mr. Pierce with data entry at a cost of $3,000.

Mr. Pierce has been criticized by several residents of the town in the past few months for alleged favoritism and inequities in assessments.

The board previously asked residents who believe there are inequities to bring them to the board so they could be reviewed with the assessor. However, to date there has not been sufficient evidence presented to the board that would warrant removal of the assessor, according to Mr. Scott.

Mr. Pierce is expected to complete a full revaluation of the town for the 2011 tax roll. The last revaluation performed by Mr. Pierce was five years ago.

He said it is common for inequities to appear after such a lapse in revaluation.