Treanor reflects on 32 years with county

WORLAND – Outgoing Washakie County Assessor Kathy Treanor was originally brought into the Washakie County Assessor's office in 1989 in order to deal with the transition to technology in the field.

"They converted the whole state in July of 1988, and I started in August of 1989," Treanor said. "Nobody in this office had computer knowledge or experience and that is why I was hired, to bring them into the 20th century."

Treanor started out as a Geographic Information System (GIS) data inputter, statistician and dealt with oil and gas equipment prior to running to become the assessor in 2002 and taking office in 2003.

The one thing that has been constant for her over these 32 years?

Change.

Treanor and her office have had to constantly deal with changes in laws and rules each and every year that they must follow as they attempt to valuate the property for the county and properly tax the properties in the county.

One of the most difficult things that people do not understand about her department's job is that the as the valuation of property goes up taxes on those properties need to go up.

"Making people understand how the whole system works is the hardest part," Treanor said. "Making them realize that we are not trying to pick on them, we are just trying to do the job and if I do not do it then someone else will."

Treanor said that she has actually enjoyed people and that she will miss them the most. She said that she has enjoyed them over the years despite them being the one of the hardest parts of the job.

"We are not always right," Treanor said. "We have made mistakes and we have needed to correct things."

She said that she decided to retire this year rather than finish her last elected year because in this job you know when it is time to call it quits.

"I do not want to be the person who cannot greet a taxpayer at the counter with a smile," Treanor said.

She said that over the last year and a half that they have had a large influx of out-of-state buyers in the area and there have been a lot of bidding wars which she believes will likely lead to property value not dropping any time soon.

Behind the scenes Treanor is the one who is constantly doing all of the data analysis for the county and setting values.

"It still has to pass the smell test," Treanor said. "You have to be able to explain it to the taxpayer, you cannot raise a tax on Ninth Street using sales from Ten Sleep because they are not comparable."

She said they must compare those like properties and develop the market adjustments.

Being in the county for 32 years she has been a part of a group that is long-standing which has included herself, Washakie County Clerk Mary Grace Strauch, Washakie County Treasurer Doris Kern and former Washakie County Clerk of Court SuZanne Whitlock who decided to retire last year, before her term was up (also in 2022) .

Even though they have become friends over the years, she and her fellow departments have understood that they each have their jobs to get done for the county.

She and Terry Wolf have been working together since they both decided to run in the same year.

In retirement she hopes to do more quilting and traveling, as well as just doing whatever she wants to do in her free time.

The one thing that Treanor will not miss about the job?

Setting her alarm clock each morning.

Treanor's retirement begins July 6.