Lake County Assessor Paul Karras wants nothing to do with the township assessing duties that Gov. Mitch Daniels wants to confer on him through a Nov. 4 ballot referendum.

"The state Legislature is flirting with disaster," he said last week when asked how he will vote on eliminating six Lake County township assessors and consolidating their duties with his office. "Retain township assessors? I have to say 100 percent yes."

Karras said the governor's proposal is flawed because his office cannot give the same personal service as the six township officials, four or whom are fellow Democrats and two Republicans.

"Where are the cost savings? The budget would be the same, so what is the sense of combing everything under the county umbrella?" he asked.

However, Porter County Assessor John Scott supports township assessors' elimination, even though he was Portage Township assessor himself for 16 years.

Porter County's Center and Portage township assessors are up for elimination Nov. 4. Some 10 other rural township assessors were automatically eliminated in summer, and Scott said that has been good for the county.

"In the two years I've been county assessor, we've had a lot of problems crop up because there isn't total cooperation between the county and the townships. The 10 we took over now seem to be working very smoothly," Scott said.

"The township assessors want to do it their own way because they are elected officials, but that creates a problem for our getting our certification downstate to get our tax rates and everything else. The Realtors, the chambers of commerce and the farmers want the buck to really stop with one person."