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4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, May 23,2018
Dawson County Chief Tax Appraiser resigns
By Allie Dean
adean@dawsonnews.com
Tangel
Dawson County Chief
Tax Appraiser Kurt Tangel
resigned earlier this month
shortly
after a
request
from the
Board of
Assessors
for a sala-
r y
increase
for Tangel
was
denied by the board of
commissioners.
Sam Guthrie, chair of the
Dawson County Board of
Assessors, asked the com
missioners during a work
session April 24 if they
would consider granting a
merit salary increase to
Tangel due to the responsi
bilities of his job and how
his job pays compared to
other department heads.
“Comparing the chief tax
appraiser position to some
other management posi
tions in our county shows
that the chief tax appraiser’s
position is underpaid,
undervalued, or both,”
Guthrie said. “There are
other department heads
paid substantially more than
the tax appraiser...whose
positions only minimally
compare to this position.”
A document prepared by
Guthrie and fellow board
member Jim Perdue shows
that Tangel is the third low
est paid out of 10 depart
ment heads, including the
directors of finance, human
resources, facilities, emer
gency services, public
works, fleet maintenance,
parks and recreation, plan
ning and zoning and the
senior center.
Guthrie asked the board
for a two percent general
increase and a 12 percent
salary adjustment to bring
Tangel up to the middle of
the group as far as pay
grade, at a salary of
$77,685.
“We feel that Kurt needs
not only a merit increase, he
also needs an employee rat
ing increase- he’s at a 28
now, I think he ought to be
at a 30 based on what I’m
looking at from the other
employees’ ratings.”
Tangel’s salary fell above
the minimum for salaries
rated at 28, as outlined in a
salary study commissioned
by the county in 2016. The
county spent around $1 mil
lion last year implementing
the study, which brought
individual salaries up within
the range and according to
how long they had worked
at the county, as well as an
across-the-board two per
cent raise.
The minimum pay for an
employee at a rating of 28
is $63,609; the mid-range is
$80,147 and the maximum
is $98,593.
In their document,
Guthrie and Perdue specifi
cally pointed out the inequi
ty between Tangel’s pay
and the pay of the senior
center director. Dawn
Pruett.
Pruett is paid a base sala
ry of $73,226, while
Tangel’s base salary was
$68,000. Though both posi
tions fell in the rating of 28,
Pruett’s longer tenure at the
county created a gap in pay.
Guthrie argued that the
length of service of an
employee should not be
considered in their pay.
“The job responsibilities
of the chief tax appraiser
are far greater than those of
the senior center,” the docu
ment from Guthrie and
Perdue reads. “Kurt Tangel
is required to have a thor
ough knowledge of State
and Department of Revenue
laws and regulations and
requires ongoing training
and schools on all aspects
of his job. The administra
tion of the Tax Assessor’s
Office affects all county
residents and property own
ers. The senior center only
affects a small minority of
county residents...and
(requires) relatively no spe
cialized training.”
Research conducted by
the county clerk on behalf
of the board determined
that Tangel’s salary was in
the mid to upper range of
other chief tax appraisers in
over 20 nearby counties of
similar size, according to
District 4 Commissioner
Julie Hughes Nix.
According to Tangel and
Guthrie, that did not mean
the chief tax appraiser sala
ry was fair in comparison to
other department heads
when considering the scope
of the job.
“Should Dawson County
lose its chief appraiser to
another county offering a
more equitable salary, the
board may not be able to
find a suitable replacement
even at a higher salary than
our incumbent chief
appraiser,” Guthrie said.
District 2 Commissioner
Chris Gaines said April 24
that he had to consider the
fact that the county paid a
lot of money for the salary
study and should follow it.
“We do have phenomenal
employees throughout the
whole organization and ask
ing for different monies for
this person or that person is
asking us to step outside of
the boundaries and the
guidelines that were given
to us by this organization
that we paid to do a salary
study,” Gaines said. “That’s
in no regards demeaning to
the performance that
(Tangel) has, he’s been a
phenomenal person to inter
act with.”
The board voted unani
mously May 3 not to
approve the raise after a
motion by Gaines.
Tangel turned in his res
ignation the following
Monday.
Tangel said May 16 that
his decision to leave was
not based on the board’s
decision not to give him a
raise, and emphasized that
the board of assessors had
asked for the raise, not him.
He declined to go further
into detail, and in his resig
nation letter, addressed to
Guthrie on May 7, he stated
that it had been a pleasure
working for the board of
assessors and that he would
help with the transition of
his duties to keep the
department running
smoothly after his depar
ture.
Tangel was hired by the
county as a field appraiser
in 2006 and promoted to
deputy in 2011 when
Michael Joseph Roberts
was promoted to chief.
Roberts resigned in May
of 2013 after being arrested
at his office on misdemean
or drug charges, and Tangel
took on the role as chief tax
assessor in June of that year.
Tangel’s last day on the
job was Monday.
Guthrie said that Tangel
has left at a critical time for
the assessor’s office, since a
two-year revaluation of all
of the properties in the
county was just recently
completed.
“We’ll have a lot of peo
ple appealing the assess
ments, and we’ll be short
the most talented person to
handle the appeals,”
Guthrie said. “(Tangel) is a
big loss to Dawson County.
He will be awfully hard to
replace.”
Spurred by the request
from the board of assessors,
Gaines repeatedly told the
board that though he want
ed to remain consistent with
the salary study, he felt
there should be a formal
way for employees or
departments to ask for
reconsideration of salaries
as well as rewarding
employees for a job well
done.
During the board’s May
10 work session, Gaines
said he wanted to consider
developing a formalized
process for the county to
address “perceived incon
sistencies within the salary
study methodology” and
find a way to award
employees who are going
above and beyond.
“We recently had a com
puter hack, and we have IT
guys who spent hours and
hours of their time and ded
ication above and beyond
what they normally do, and
obviously we need to con
tinue to do public acknowl
edgement of their activities
and their level of perfor
mance,” Gaines said.
“Someone suggested doing
gift cards, or a day off, in
order to publicly reward
and show appreciation and
small rewards for those
employees that are doing
that.
“I’ve seen in the past that
employees that go above
and beyond don’t do it for
more money. It ties back to
the appreciation level of it
and for us to come up with
a formalized methodology
to try to implement that.”
Chairman Billy
Thurmond agreed, and said
that the salary study was
meant to be a guide, not set
in stone.
The board voted 3-1
against Gaines, declining to
pursue his motion to allow
human resources and the
county manager to develop
a plan to standardize the
process for rewarding
employees as well as a plan
to address perceived issues
with particular positions.
Nix, District 1
Commissioner Sharon
Fausett, and District 3
Commissioner Jimmy
Hamby voted against the
motion
Hamby said that if the
salary study was wrong, the
board should do another
one.
City of Dawsonville FY 2018-2019 Budget Notice
The City of Dawsonville hereby gives public notice that the proposed FY
2018-2019 City of Dawsonville budget was presented to the Mayor and
City Council at the May 21, 2018 regular Council Meeting and Work Ses
sion. Interested persons may view a copy of the proposed FY 2018-2019
budget in City Hall at 415 Highway 53 E, Dawsonville, Georgia beginning
May 22, 2018, during regular business hours, Monday through Friday,
8:00 AM until 4:30 PM. In addition, the proposed budget will be placed
on the City’s website: www.dawsonville-ga.gov
The Mayor and City Council will hold a Public Hearing to receive public
comments on the proposed FY 2018-2019 Budget at 7:00 PM on Monday,
June 4, 2018, in the Council Meeting Room on the 2nd Floor of Dawson
ville City Hall, 415 Highway 53 E, Dawsonville, Georgia, at the regular
Council meeting. Adoption of the budget will be considered at the regu
lar Council Meeting and Work Session on June 18, 2018 at 7:00 PM, in
the Council Meeting Room on the 2nd Floor of Dawsonville City Hall,
415 Highway 53, Dawsonville, Georgia.
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