County's new assessments chief takes reins after 32 years with department

A fixture at the Bel Air office of the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation for more than three decades, Nancy Schmidbauer is at the helm since the departure of supervisor Don Beynon.

Schmidbauer was with assessments and taxation for 32 years before being officially appointed June 24; she has been acting as supervisor since March 1.

"I started as a clerk and worked my way up," Schmidbauer said of her career.

She is a licensed appraiser, and took advantage of the department's four-year program that allows clerical staff to train for the assessor associate position.

Schmidbauer, who will turn 53 on Sept. 11, said she started out as "a Baltimore City girl" and graduated from Mercy High School in Baltimore.

She moved to Harford County 15 years ago and lives in Joppa.

"I am a proud first-generation American of Brazilian descent," she said. "I did attend some college at Towson University way back when, before I even started with the department."

The state department of assessments and taxation is responsible for uniformly appraising all taxable property in the state at market value, with each of the county offices being responsible for assessments in that county, according to the agency's website.

Schmidbauer said her biggest challenge so far is dealing with a new database that was implemented statewide and has likewise been a challenge statewide.

"That right now is our main goal, is the learning curve," she said, explaining the goal is to improve the department. "We are trying to do the best we can to make that run more efficiently."

Schmidbauer said she also is proud of her commitment to Harford County.

She originally divided her time between the Baltimore and Harford county assessment offices, but has worked exclusively in Bel Air since 1994.

"It's a very transparent system and we are willing to help anyone understand the process," she said. "We have done a really good job with that. We are going forward with a positive attitude."