Tim O’Bryant
Age: 41
Address: 4316 Woodcliffe Avenue, Dayton
Education: B.A. in Bible from Pensacola Christian College
Current employment: Assistant pastor at Blessed Hope Baptist Church; realtor with First Realty Group; conceal carry instructor.
Family: Married to Rita. They have a daughter, Allyson, 7.
Political experience: First time running for office
Political party: Republican
Website: www.timobryant.org
Willis Blackshear
Age: 52
Address: 736 Argonne Drive, Dayton
Education: B.A. in political science/public administration from Fisk University
Current employment: Montgomery County Recorder
Family: Married to Regina. He has one son, Willis Jr., 19
Political experience: Montgomery County Recorder 2006-present; Montgomery County Treasurer’s office 1985-2006
Political party: Democrat
Website: www.williseblackshear.com
COMPLETE COVERAGE
The presidential and U.S. Senate races may be getting most of the attention, but there are more than 100 candidates and a lot of school levies and other tax issues on the November ballot in our area. In the coming weeks, we will take a look at most of the races and issues on the ballot and try to bring news to you to help you make an informed decision.
You can get in-depth information on the races and issues in your area with our interactive online voters guide. You can create your own ballot, pick candidates and more at DaytonDailyNews.com/go/vote
Also, look for our voters guide in the Oct. 25 newspaper.
Montgomery County Recorder Willis Blackshear is running for re-election, touting the technological upgrades made in the department, the HomeSaver program that he started in 2007, how his office’s budget has decreased and his desire to help veterans if he remains in his position.
His opponent, Republican Tim O’Bryant, believes Blackshear isn’t doing everything that he can to address rising property taxes for citizens, while also saying that the Recorder’s office — in charging the public an online access fee to view and print records — is operating illegally.
Blackshear, a Democrat, was appointed county Recorder in 2006, then defeated Arlene Setzer two years later. O’Bryant is running for office for the first time.
“I want to continue to serve the citizens in a manner that will benefit everyone in the county,” Blackshear, 52, said. “I have no regrets. The main thing I want people to know is that I’m real mindful of how tax dollars are spent. I’m trying to give the citizens the biggest bang for their buck.”
O’Bryant is claiming the Recorder’s office is operating against the law because it charges fees to access information online. State Auditor Dave Yost issued a letter in June, stating that there is “no statutory authority permitting it.”
“In our society, we believe that we ought to be governed by rule of law, not a bureaucrat’s opinion of what the law should be,” O’Bryant said. If elected, he said, “I would obey the law. That practice would end immediately.”
Blackshear said the county has operated this way since 2002, when a $25 monthly online access fee was put in place. In 2006, he reworked it to either be a six-month ($150) or year-long ($300) subscription. The county has 300 commercial subscribers — real estate agents, title companies and law firms.
The money generated by the subscriptions pays for the county’s year-to-year $9,200 contract with Extract, which was hired in 2008 to redact personal information from documents.
The state auditor’s office has set a deadline of Jan. 1, 2013, for this issue to be resolved, or county recorders who charge an online fee will be subject to a non-compliance citation. Blackshear said the Ohio Recorders’ Association is working with state legislators to get a bill passed prior to Jan. 1.
“How can we be breaking the law if there’s a deadline?” Blackshear said. “My goal is that it will get worked out by the first of the year and we’ll continue to provide indent access. Otherwise, we’ll probably have to take the information off the internet because we won’t have the necessary income for the service contract.”
Since 2006, the Recorder’s office has invested about $600,000 in upgrading its efficiency, including $10,000 in Scan Pro software in April 2011 that improves the legibility of records. Blackshear said Montgomery County is the only county in the state that uses this software.
The county’s new land records system was launched in December 2011, enabling documents to be scanned on-site and immediately available to be viewed online.
“Just on technological upgrades alone, we’ve brought this office into the 21st century and made it a place I think the citizens can be proud of,” Blackshear said.
O’Bryant, 41, believes he has an advantage in the race because he doesn’t have any experience working in government. Being a member of the “private industry,” he can relate to the average citizen, he said.
“The incumbent only has government experience,” O’Bryant said. “When he looks at a problem, he looks at it like, ‘How will the government solve this problem?’ When I look at a problem, it’s, ‘How can individuals and the private industry solve this problem?’”
O’Bryant said that, if elected, he would immediately address rising property taxes and the property transfer tax, which the county collects $3 for every $1,000 of a transaction.
“High property taxes are contributing to the high foreclosure rates in Montgomery County,” O’Bryant said. “Property values have declined as the taxes rise. When they rise, it hurts the middle class families, and that’s unacceptable.”
However, Blackshear said the Recorder is not responsible for either of those issues. He pointed out that property taxes are determined by local jurisdictions, and the property transfer tax is set by the county commissioners. The county auditor then collects the transfer fee.
“He’s wanting to do things that don’t have anything to do with the job,” Blackshear said. “(The Recorder position) is an administrative office. It requires someone to actually do the work. If I’m going to do the work, I’ve got to know what the responsibilities are. He doesn’t address the statutory responsibilities of the Recorder.”
In July 2007, Blackshear started the HomeSaver program, which was designed to alert homeowners who were in a high-risk mortgage situation. About 5,000 letters were sent out, but the response rate was only 10 percent, Blackshear said. CountyCorp took over the program entirely in 2009, and the Recorder’s office now refers homeowners to CountyCorp.
If Blackshear is re-elected, his goal is to reach out to the veteran community. Veterans would be able to record copies of their service discharge documents as well as be given identification cards to receive any benefits and discounts that are offered to them.
In Blackshear’s first full year in 2007, the operating budget for the Recorder’s office was $1.3 million. The projected 2013 operating budget is $943,000.
O’Bryant, a real estate agent and an assistant pastor, was the business manager at Kettering Medical Center from 2005-09 and spent a year on the Dayton Right to Life board. He said he would utilize his real estate experience to attack the foreclosure crisis.
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