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Avon Twp. assessor closes office, remains out of reach

He remains incommunicado as officials review options

Anyone looking for information or assistance at the Avon Township assessor's office on Washington Street in Round Lake Park during the past week found a dark room and a locked door.

The office closed Sept. 19 due to a budget dispute. Why that course of action was chosen by Assessor Christopher Ditton or what will happen next is an unknown in an unusual circumstance that has former allies at odds.

"It's a mess. It's really hard to understand why he's doing it, and he's still receiving his full-time salary," said Keri-Lyn Krafthefer, an attorney representing Avon Township. "I represent 45 townships and I've never seen this happen," she added.

The Avon assessor's office phone now directs callers to the Lake County assessor's office number. Township officials have replaced a "closed until further notice" sign with a more expansive message saying the township is trying to resolve the situation and regrets any inconvenience Ditton has caused by the action.

"Since he is an elected official, we don't have a lot of options," township Supervisor Lisa Rusch said Friday. Among the office's services are assisting with homestead exemptions and senior citizen assessment freezes and providing information for assessment appeals.

Ditton did not return a message for comment Friday, and Krafthefer says he has been uncommunicative. Rusch, a former Ditton running mate, on Thursday alerted local officials and other township supervisors of the situation.

She and the township board members were named defendants in a federal suit brought by Ditton this spring alleging budget changes were made as political retribution. "I feel the board is more concerned with politics than the people they represent," Ditton told the Daily Herald in May.

This month, U.S. District Judge John Z. Lee found Ditton and two employees who brought the suit had not met their burden to show relief was warranted and denied a motion for an injunction to prevent the township from enacting the 2014-15 budget.

"Once the budget has been passed, the (township) Board has no authority to intervene in the management of the assessor's office, its employees or processes," Rusch informed local officials.

She said that when the 2014-15 budget was being assembled, all involved were asked to justify "every dollar" as the township tried to recover from three years of lower property tax levies and expense cuts were made across the board.

Information contained in the court finding showed the current budget reduced funding for employee salaries in the assessor's office compared to what was proposed by Ditton by about 30 percent, in effect reducing the staff.

Lee's finding also noted the township was operating with a deficit under the previous township board's budget and had to draw $161,000 from reserves. As a result, "significant, across-the-board budget cuts" were made that affected numerous aspects of township operations, not just the assessor's office, according to the finding. Evidence showed the cuts were caused by financial concerns, not political retaliations, Lee found.

According to Krafthefer, Ditton used his annual allotment for employee salaries and benefits in six months instead of 12. Rusch said four assessor office employees have received final payouts, but Ditton is still receiving his $65,900 salary.

Krafthefer said the next step may involve a "very rarely used procedure" to remove public officials from office.

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