Auditor Functions

The County Auditor is a constitutional officer of the county. The Auditor is elected to a four-year term from the county at large, with prohibition against serving more than two consecutive terms. The main overall goal is to support and assist you in gaining access to the reporting of fiscal affairs of the Hancock County Government. To do this the Auditor and Staff perform many behind the scene tasks from keeping minutes of various Board meetings, for which the Auditor serves as secretary and clerk, to the highly technical duties of financial statement preparation and compliance with federal tax guidelines. The County Auditor's office has evolved dramatically from a bookkeeper, clerk, and secretary, to a financial manager with responsibilities that impact the financial well-being of the County Government.

The Auditor's duties basically fall into seven different categories:

Secretarial

Secretary to:

  • County Commissioners and Council
  • State Tax Adjustment Board, Secretary/Chair to Data Board
  • Keeps all Official Records (i.e. correspondence, both Council and Commissioners, bids, letters of credit, etc.)
  • Prepare and Distribute Agenda
  • Reassessment Notices and Schedules

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  • Notice of all meetings
  • Budget Rates
  • Tax Sale
  • Ordinances

Financial

  • Budget preparation for Council and State DLGF
  • Initial determination of tax rates for the County
  • 1099's
  • Pays all debt service
  • Balancing of County Funds
  • Quietus all account receivable money
  • All non-binding reviews for annual budgets for townships/cities/towns/libraries

Tax

  • Audits Treasurer's Books
  • Budget Transfers and Additional
  • Transmit Budget Orders and Tax Rates for all Units of County Government
  • Tax Sale-Publications and Records of Sale
  • Deductions - Homestead, Mortgage, Veteran, and Age Disability

Property Records

  • Certificate of Net Assessed Values to All Taxing Units
  • Receives, Maintains, and Audits Deductions: Homestead, Mortgage, Veteran, Age, Circuit Breaker, Disability, Calculates, and Applies Certificate of Errors and Added Assessments
  • Calculates any Refunds
  • Maintains Subdivisions, Street Names, Splits, or Combination in GIS
  • Certify Signatures for Petitions
  • Maintains Aerial Plat Books
  • Enter for taxation all deeds, plats, and other documents
  • Transfer real estate/required to change legal description in plat books
  • Certify Property Owners for Zoning and BZAs
  • Transfer Fees

Personnel and Payroll

  • Employee Files
  • Service Record
  • Wage Scale
  • Job Classifications
  • Payroll
  • Prepares, Advertises
  • W-2's, W-4's, Taxes
  • Payment of Taxes to IRS, FICA, Department of Revenue
  • Vacation and Sick Days
  • Employee Benefits
  • Health and Life Insurance
  • Deferred Comp
  • PERF
  • Cobra
  • Overtime

Abstract and Settlement

  • Distribution of all Taxing Units Abstract
  • Tax Sale Appeals
  • Quietus of all Receipts