The Grundy County Board of Supervisors has proclaimed April 2015 as National County Government Month. County government is often considered the most responsive to its citizens. An example of this is recently the Grundy County Recorder announced that his office will accept credit cards as payment for services his office provides. This was one of the most frequent requests in the office and is part of an ongoing process to make interacting with county government more convenient for its citizens.

The County Recorder is an elected position for a term of four years. The recorder’s office processes information concerning land and records management. These records include deeds, contracts, mortgages, assignments, releases, federal and state tax liens, affidavits, plats and surveys, veterans discharge papers, easements, condemnations, trade names, leases, bills of sale, financing statements, and many other documents.

In addition, the recorder’s office processes vital records. They issue marriage licenses, register birth, death, and marriage certificates, and certify all vital records.

The recorder’s office issues boat, snowmobile, and ATV registrations, titles and liens. They issue hunting and fishing licenses as well as fur harvester licenses, habitat, duck and trout stamps, and deer and wild turkey licenses.

Another four-year elected position is the County Treasurer. The County Treasurer mails tax statements to all property owners in the county and collects the property tax. After the taxes are collected, they are distributed to schools, cities, the county, and various other taxing authorities by the treasurer’s office. All county funds and investments are overseen by the County Treasurer.

Motor vehicle titles and registrations are processed through the County Treasurer’s office. In 2014, there were 3,557 regular and salvage titles issued in Grundy County. A total of 21,031 registrations were issued by the county in the same year.

The treasurer’s office is responsible for the Driver’s License Center in Grundy County. The Driver’s License Center is open on Wednesday and Thursday of each week and administers both driving and written tests together with renewing driver’s licenses.

The County Assessor is appointed by the Conference Board which consists of members of the Board of Supervisors, the Mayors of all cities in the county, and a member from each school district within the county. Assessors must pass a state examination and complete continuing education. The assessor’s budget is approved by the Conference Board.

The Assessor’s office is responsible for the assessment of all real estate in Grundy County, such as homes, businesses, and farm land. All real property is revalued in odd-numbered years. Grundy County recently completed the process to reappraise all residential and agriculture dwelling properties which included a door-to-door inspection and exterior measurements. The assessor’s office also administers all property tax exemptions, such as homestead credit, military exemption, business property tax credit, and family farm credit.

Grundy County has an internal Information Technology/Geographic Information System (IT/GIS) Department. This office manages all of the county’s computer and technology equipment, including all servers and individual computers as well as all system and application software. This office oversees data storage, backup and recovery for all the electronic files in the county as well as all the mapping information for the county.

The county website, www.grundycounty.org, the county’s Facebook page, and the mapping system are updated and maintained by the IT/GIS Department. Aerial maps can be viewed of all properties in the county, which information is used by most offices in the county as well as many outside businesses and citizens. New layers are continually added to this systems, and parcels, parcel ownership, and assessments are updated as changes are made.