The search-by-name function will soon return to the Carroll County Assessor’s Office website following discussions during this (Monday) morning’s board of supervisors meeting. The search function was removed from the county assessor’s website last week. According to Assessor Sarah Haberl, it was removed after she submitted a question about the feasibility of limiting searches by name, and the website hosting company incorrectly took the question as a request to disable the feature. Haberl says there are pros and cons to search-by-name inquiries.
Board Chair Scott Johnson notes that assessor offices in Iowa are independent taxing authorities and operate without direct oversight by the supervisors. However, he and the other supervisors received several complaints from county residents about the removed feature and would have preferred it to be presented to the board ahead of time as a courtesy.
Several individuals addressed the board, including Carroll County-based appraisers, County Sheriff Ken Pingrey, and County Auditor Kourtney Payer, who noted that they regularly used the search-by-name feature, and that its removal would negatively impact their businesses or offices. The supervisors acknowledged the concerns about privacy and safety and questioned the feasibility of creating accounts for pre-approved people to use the feature. Scott and Piper Potthoff of Potthoff Appraisals say that would make publicly accessible information easy to find only for a select group of users.
The supervisors did not take any formal action on the issue, but they did strongly encourage Haberl to re-activate the search-by-name function. Shortly after the meeting, Haberl announced that the search feature would be restored, but it could take a day or so for the change to be reflected on the assessor’s website.
