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Ray quietly steps aside
“I just felt it was time to move on,” he said. “We had accomplished what we set out to do and I just felt like it was time for a new challenge. I believe the time is right and the office needs a new face.” That new face is county administrator Chris Green, who will take office on Oct. 1. Employee of the county since 1983 Ray was hired by Blount County in August 1983 as data processing manager/revenue commission mapper. Ray worked in that position for 10 years until Revenue Commissioner Kyle Bryan stepped down due to health concerns. Gov. Jim Folsom Jr. appointed Ray as Bryan’s successor on Nov. 1 of that year and he has won two bids for election since then (the commissioner serves six-year terms). Since Ray was hired, the office of revenue commissioner has changed considerably. “I guess that the actual job hasn’t changed as much as the sheer volume of what goes through our office,” he said. In 1993, the revenue commission’s budget was $750,000 – it is now $1 million. Revenues collected in 1993 were around $3.5 million. Last year’s revenues were $21 million. The revenue office issued 42,000 vehicle tags in 1993. That number is now over 70,000. And while we haven’t created any more land in the county, the land we have has been divided up so much that the revenue office now tracks 39,000 parcels of land as opposed to 26,000 in 1993. Over the past 16 years, the revenue commission office has collected more than $120 million and has compiled a clean audit every year. Ray is probably most proud of some of the technological improvements that his office has been able to make over the last 16 years. The office is now completely computerized and there is a Web site (www.blountrevenue.com) for online pay- ments and information retrieval. “I think that the improvements in technology and the opening of the Hayden annex (in 2005) are what I’m most proud of. Both have made it easier for our customers – the citizens of the county – and have made our office more efficient when it comes to the services we provide.” Green will inherit a revenue office that has basically the same number of employees as it did when Ray took over in 1993. The revenue commission has 25 employees, counting the commissioner. There are eight tag/title clerks, four appraisal clerks, three real estate clerks, three appraisers, two mappers, one personal property appraiser, one tag/title supervisor, one real estate supervisor, and one deputy revenue commissioner. When Ray thinks back on his time in office, he recalls several people that helped make his job easier. “All of our commissioners and probate judges, of course. Marcelle Whited (former deputy revenue commissioner) is probably the one person who I owe the most to.” One thing that hasn’t changed is the questions that he has fielded from the public during his time in office and as an employee of the county. “I guess one of the most common questions or complaints we’ve had over the years pertains to our office ‘setting taxes.’ We don’t do that. Our office only applies the Alabama Tax Code after appraisal and assessments are done.” Future plans Ray will not get much time off. He has already accepted a job in the private sector that will begin soon. His last few months in office have been hectic. He has worked extensively with Green on the transition and believes the change will be seamless. “I just want to thank my staff for the job they’ve done and the citizens of the county for allowing me to serve them.” |
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