Jason Claycamp named new Jackson County Appraiser

Jason Claycamp has been appointed as the new appraiser of Jackson County, following the retirement of part-time appraiser Larry Reynolds.

Claycamp, 34, began serving as the county’s full-time appraiser on Tuesday but has worked in the appraiser’s office since February 2011.

When he was initially hired, Claycamp started as a data collector and began taking classes through the state to become certified as an appraiser. He completed his training last fall.

“I also had to have 6,000 hours of experience to become certified,” Claycamp said.

Claycamp was promoted to zoning administrator at this time last year, and he will continue to serve in that role in addition to his appraiser duties.

“For the most part, we take all the property sales that happen in the county and analyze those, put them into a model and that’s how we determine everyone’s property value,” Claycamp said of the department. “We do a lot of data collection. We’re required to visit every property once every six years. We have everything set up on a schedule and visit a couple thousand parcels each year. We have to make sure all our information is up to date.”

All the property models and formulas used to calculate a property’s value are determined by the state, he said.

“I find it interesting,” he said of the work. “Math was always one of my strongest subjects in high school so I kind of enjoy working with numbers.”

The county’s website, http://ks-jackson.manatron.com, was updated a few years ago in order to allow the public to find information about their property online, including values, maps and other tax information.

“There’s a lot of people that think our office determines their taxes, but we strictly are just looking at the value of their home,” he said. “The commissioners do use that value when setting the county’s mill levy.”

Reynolds served as county appraiser since December 2009. He was initially hired on a four-year employment contract with an annual salary of $42,000.

Before that, Tom Brown served as the appraiser for both Jackson and Brown counties until he retired in the fall of 2008. Each county paid half of Brown’s $61,285 salary.

“It’s not uncommon for counties to share one appraiser,” Claycamp said. Claycamp, however, will just be serving Jackson County.

As appraiser, Claycamp will be paid $26.44 an hour, which is about $55,000 a year.

Prior to working for the county, Claycamp was coaching and substitute teaching at Wetmore schools. He also worked in construction.

A 1999 graduate of Wetmore High School, Claycamp has a degree in history from Washburn University, with a minor in business.

He has two children, Kaitlyn, 10; and Kaden, 8.

The appraiser’s office is located on the second floor of the Jackson County Courthouse and is operated by Claycamp and four employees. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.