ANDERSON — Realtor Ben Jones worries about losing township assessors.

The assessors, one for each of Madison County’s 14 townships, hold the statistics he needs to sell homes, like the value of land, property maps and tax records.

“(The township assessors) all have the pertinent information that we need to market the home,” the Elwood resident said. “If we couldn’t get the information there, I’m not sure where we could get the information.”

Jones is one of many people concerned about the consolidation of township assessors into the county assessor office, a move that becomes effective Tuesday under a new state law.

As part of the property tax reform plan, the Indiana General Assembly passed a law that eliminates township assessors in areas with less than 15,000 parcels of land. As of Tuesday, 13 of the 14 township assessors in Madison County will be without jobs.

The exception is Anderson Township, which takes in most of the city of Anderson and has more than 15,000 parcels. In November, Anderson Township residents will vote on whether they want Assessor Patricia Davis to continue her full-time job.

“The way the referendum is worded is not beneficial to me,” Davis said. “The public needs to be informed what they’re voting for. I might need to go back out like I’m running again.”

Some township assessors say the change could result in the loss of convenient services to rural residents. The work could become a backlog for staff in the county assessor’s office, they say.

“I’d like to have kept them all,” said Cheryl Heath, county assessor. “I guess the state thinks that it’s going to save money.”

If Heath were to have the opportunity to hire more people, she is mandated to interview former township assessors first, state Rep. Scott Reske, D-Pendleton, explained.

“There’s still that option that they can hire the township assessor,” Reske said.

Reske said he did not agree with the consolidation of the assessors in the county.

“I think it should be up to the voters,” he said. “What I would argue is that I think each county, or township, should have the voter decide.”

An assessor measures the value of property for residents in the county. Eight people in the county assessor’s office have certification to assess real estate, Heath said. Those people will be responsible for more than 98,000 parcels of land in the county.

“I was going to get that level this year,” Union Township Assessor Linda Geiger said. “I was elected last year, and I went to school and got level one. This year I was going to get a level two.”