Tom Everly will retire as Daviess County’s Assessor on Aug. 31 of this year, having served 18 ½ years in the office. Mr. Everly was first elected assessor in November of 1982. He won five consecutive elections, three of which were contested.
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As assessor, Mr. Everly is responsible for locating and identifying the ownership of all taxable property in the county. He has some 4,200 tangible, personal properties and some 10,200 real estate properties under his jurisdiction.
Mr. Everly began with an operation budget of $55,000 in 1983. The budget more than doubled to $130,000 this year.
“Computers are one reason for the larger budget,” he said. “I’m not sure computers are cost effective, but you about have to have them. They make it a lot easier to look up properties. For example, the tax levy for the fire department required a total evaluation for the city to determine how large a levy to run.”
There are presently four employees in the assessor’s office. As many as 14 workers were called in to help with the first county-wide assessments in 1985.
“It wasn’t a problem, except for lack of knowledge,” said Mr. Everly. “People knew there was going to be a reassessment, they didn’t know what the amount was going to be.”
Now, if needed, assessments are done every odd year.
Because the state picks up half the tab, Mr. Everly has seen the county assessor’s offices monitored a lot more closely by tax committee through the years.
The committee does a random drawing of 45 ag lands, 45 residential and 45 commercial properties, he explained. Then they do an appraisal. They compare their results with those done by the county assessor. If it’s off by five percent, they do another. If the second one is “out of tolerance” by five percent, then the state withholds funds from the schools.
“It’s never happened here,” said Mr. Everly. “And I don’t want to see it happen. But that’s how the pressure is applied to do your job.”
Mr. Everly co-created the North Central Missouri Assessors Association and was elected as its president twice. It was the first regional association in the state and has served as a model for six others created since them.
In 2000 Mr. Everly served as president of the State Assessors Association. He was first vice-president in 1999 and second vice-president in 1998. He is a charter member of the Missouri Mappers Association and has been a member of the Legislative Committee for 17 years.
Mr. Everly was born at Coffey and attended school there. He lived in Daviess County for about 50 years, except for three years when he worked at McDonald Aircraft in St. Louis. Before serving as assessor, he was in the insurance business for seven years and also farmed. He moved to St. Joseph two years ago last December.
Mr. Everly is looking forward to spending more time with his family. He and his wife, Edie, have one son, Sam, and two daughters, Joey and Tommy Ann Quilty. They have one granddaughter, Paige Elizabeth Quilty who will be one year old in October.
“I’m just tired,” he said. “I’ve been assessor long enough. I’m leaving it in good hands.”
Betty Harmison was elected assessor last November.
Mr. Everly plans to do fee appraisals in St. Joe and Kansas City. He says it is about the same thing he is doing now except he will be paid on an individual basis.
“I’m not old enough to retire yet,” he said. “And I’m not going to.”