Candy Aiken, the county assessor, told the Lewis County Finance & Rules Committee that the county will offer assessing and data-collection services to towns and townships at per-parcel rates aimed to cover employee costs. The committee approved the intermunicipal agreements and the initial rates, with the county retaining the right to annual rate increases.

Aiken said Lewis County currently has just over 25,000 parcels and a shrinking pool of assessors, with retirements expected by Sept. 30 of this year. To cover the county’s expenses for staff who perform town work, the proposed first-year rates are $10 per parcel for assessing services and $3.25 per parcel for data collection; contracts would include a 2–5% annual increase clause and a 60-day written termination provision. "It's not we're not looking to make money off the towns by offering these services, but at least covering our expenses that we do have going out the door for employees holding these positions," Aiken said.

The county added two positions last year: one assessor who has one certification course remaining and one data collector who has completed data-collection courses and is working in the field. Aiken said the county’s short-term goals for 2025 are to enter agreements with at least three towns for assessing services, two towns for data collection services and to assess at least 7,500 parcels. She told the committee one town is waiting for the resolution to pass and named the town of Denmark as planning to seek county assessing assistance when its assessor retires; she also said the town of Diana is considering county data-collection services.

A town representative from Kogan praised the county work after a vacancy there, saying the county’s staff had "caught up" work that had gone undone. Aiken noted the proposed $10-per-parcel assessing rate sits near the midpoint of county charges statewide and emphasized the county does not intend to profit from the service.

The committee approved a resolution authorizing intermunicipal agreements for assessing and data-collection services for the term beginning April 1, 2025, through March 31, 2026, at the stated rates and with the county’s right to annual rate adjustments. Staff will proceed to prepare contracts (commonly called "15 37 agreements" in the meeting) with towns that express interest.