Purpose
To assist the Delaware County Auditor's Office by identifying performance benchmarks for increasing efficiency and accuracy. Areas of focus include the auditor's Web site, the plat room, and overall responsiveness to the citizens of the county.

Action
Benchmarks were developed from the results of a questionnaire sent to twenty-two auditor's offices within Indiana and from research done on various counties across the nation that are similar in population to Delaware County. In addition to the benchmarks, an analysis was compiled of the Web sites for the twenty-two counties in Indiana. The Center for Information and Communication Sciences at Ball State University also contributed their expertise by formalizing recommendations for the Delaware County auditor's Web site.  Last, the Business Fellows assisted the plat room staff in updating the records of nontaxed and nonprofit parcels in Delaware County.

Results
Students developed several recommendations for improvements to the auditor's Web site, identified best practices in the Delaware County Auditor's Office and those in other counties, and assisted the staff in updating a number of the records in the plat room that relate to the property-tax base in the county.  

Faculty Mentor
Roger Hollands, Department of Political Science

Partner
Judy Rust, County Auditor for Delaware County

Students
Srikant Devaraj; Juli Digate; Michael Dotson; Ashley Frey; Andrew Griffin; Stacy Saberniak; Michelle Sahlhoff; Matzine Sanchez-Gutierrez; Lisa Shipley; Aimee Siert; Ashley Surpas; Robert Wolfe