Bill BennettFor the first time in a dozen years, there is a contested race -- rather than simply a coronation -- for the Hamilton County Assessor of Property.
Bill Bennett, the long-time Hamilton County Assessor, faces off against Democratic opponent Jelena Butler and Conrad Taylor, an independent, to determine who will oversee next year's reappraisal of the value of every parcel of property in Hamilton.
There is a reason -- two reasons, actually -- why Bill Bennett has gone unchallenged since 2000.
First, Bennett is an exceptional assessor. Bennett's method for running the assessor's office is considered a model for other counties seeking to learn how to audit fairly and efficiently.
The Tennessee Association of Assessing Officers has named him "assessor of the year" and rewarded his successes with one of only four lifetime achievement awards ever presented by the organization.
Of the 95 county property assessors in the state, only one was chosen to serve on the Tennessee Board of Equalization, the highest court in the state for disputed assessments. That assessor is Bill Bennett.
This fall, the assessor's office will implement a new computer system that will streamline the 2013 assessment process, making property valuations faster for county workers and, ultimately, less expensive for taxpayers. Bennett led the charge to implement this promising software.
For these reasons, Bill Bennett has earned our endorsement and deserves your vote for Hamilton County Assessor of Property.
There is a second -- and much more discouraging -- reason why Bennett has gone unchallenged since Bill Clinton was president and Justin Bieber was in diapers.
Serving effectively as property assessor requires both technical understanding and a deep knowledge of the geography of the county. As a result, settling into the role involves a steep learning curve that necessarily chews up a lot of time -- time that is unavailable under the current election structure.
The election for county assessor occurs every four years. The county's reassessments also occur every four years -- and the process begins ramping up just weeks after the election.
This means that an incumbent can rightly claim, as Bennett does, that someone new to the office wouldn't even have a chance to understand their role by the time reappraisals begin.
As a result, a challenger can never fight an incumbent for the position on a level playing field.
Plus, since this unfair situation encourages incumbents to stick around through reassessments to ensure the process goes smoothly, it entices them to retire mid-term so that the new assessor actually has proper time to learn on the job. Because the County Commissioners, not voters, choose a mid-term replacement, it makes the process ripe for cronyism and all but guarantees that the person selected as replacement county assessor is a political insider.
Don't believe that sort of thing would happen? In 1994, when the property assessor position became open, the County Commissioner chose one of their own to fill the vacancy: Bill Bennett.
This page endorses Bill Bennett for assessor of property -- and begs the Hamilton County Commission to end the unfair incumbency advantage created by elections that fall just months before reappraisals.