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Longtime appraiser enjoys state honor

By Mat Batts, The Dispatch, Lexington, N.C. on

Published in Senior Living Features

As Jerry Ward tells it, "nobody has really ever sat in high school and said 'I want to be a tax department employee.'" But, after 20 years in the business, Ward said there's nowhere he'd rather be.

A lifelong Davidson County resident, Ward, 52, began working part time in the county's tax department as a data collector in 1996 in preparation for the county's 1997 tax revaluation. One year later, badly needing full-time employment, Ward weighed an offer from the post office against his future in the tax department.

"I was really struggling with that. What should I do, which to choose," Ward said. "I went and talked to (Davidson County tax administrator) Joe (Silver) about it and I said 'I just don't know. If I stay here, is there any kind of future or a permanent full-time job?'

"And I'll never forget, he stood up and held his hand out and he said, 'If you stay with me, I'll take care of you.' And he has."

The loyalty has paid off for both parties. Looking back on Ward's career, Silver said, "There's no one better."

His sentiment was validated this month when Ward was named the N.C. Association of Assessing Officers Appraiser of the Year, becoming the first-ever Davidson County appraiser to earn the honor.

The award, which Ward said he had never considered as a possibility, was announced at the NCAAO fall conference Nov. 16-18 in Greensboro.

"(Joe) was insisting that I go to the conference," Ward said, "and I was like 'I don't want to go to that.'"

As NCAAO officials began announcing the 2016 recipient's credentials, Ward said he was stuck by how similar the recipient's background was to his own.

"They were reading this guy's career and what he did and I was like, 'That sounds familiar, he did sound kind of like me," Ward recalled. "Then they said that he resided in Davidson County and mentioned my wife's name, Susan, I was like, 'Oh my God, that's me.'"

An admitted "dull, quiet guy," Ward said he was in complete shock as Silver ushered Ward's family into the convention center to congratulate him on the award.

"I told Joe, 'Man I've never gotten anything like this. I don't know how to act,'" he said.

A 1982 graduate of Lexington Senior High School, Ward earned a two-year accounting degree through night courses as he navigated his career options. His education has continued throughout his long career in the tax department.

In his letter nominating Ward for the appraiser of the year award, Silver noted that Ward "has taken as many classes and seminars as my budget would handle."

 

Those accomplishments, in addition to a required 28 hours of continuing education every two years, range from appraiser's licenses to his real estate tests, establishing Ward as a unique and dynamic commodity.

"He's taken every course of instruction that he can take," Silver said, "(And) he did this basically on his own. He came to me and said he wanted to take the courses. He didn't have to that."

For his efforts, Silver said, Ward has become something of an expert to the seven appraisers he now supervisors.

"When you get somebody that endeavors to advance themselves and learn everything they can, they become the instructor to other people, other employees," Silver said. "The people that he supervises, he can be their mentor. He's just excellent at what he does."

Despite dreaming for most of his life about moving to the mountains and settling down there, Ward, a self-proclaimed homebody, has instead remained in Davidson County because "I just like the small town."

Married for 33 years, Ward has two adult sons, Calum and Colton, and two grandchildren, who have also planted their roots in Davidson County. Ward and his family attend Wayside Baptist Tabernacle, the same church where he and Susan met as children.

Ward credits the tax department's "family oriented atmosphere" as the reason for his longevity, adding that he may look into a part-time residence in the mountains once he nears retirement age.

For now, though, Silver and the rest of Davidson County are just lucky to have him.

"He's earned everything that he's gotten," Silver said. "He's worth his weight in gold."

Mat Batts can be reached at (336) 249-3981, ext. 227, or at mat.batts@the-dispatch.com. Follow Mat on Twitter: @LexDispatchMB

(c)2016 The Dispatch, Lexington, N.C.

Visit The Dispatch, Lexington, N.C. at www.the-dispatch.com

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(c) The Dispatch, Lexington, N.C.

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