LOWVILLE — Lewis County is moving forward with a pair of state-funded studies on possible centralization of assessment and property tax administration.

The county has been awarded $25,000 apiece for feasibility studies on development of more centralized assessment units and implementation of a county-level database of property tax collection information.

"It's definitely worth looking into," said Caryn W. Kolts, the county's Real Property Tax Services director. "Can it be done more efficiently? We won't know until we study it."

County legislators last week approved a contract with Cama Consultants to conduct a centralized assessment study. It is expected to take about four months to complete, Ms. Kolts said.

The study will look at the possibility not only of implementing a single countywide assessing unit but also of consolidating at least some of the county's 19 assessing units into clusters that could share services.

The county includes about 24,000 parcels.

While countywide assessing may not be feasible, the study could identify ways in which the county could further assist towns and villages with assessing, possibly through contractual services, Ms. Kolts said.

The county is accepting proposals from firms interested in conducting the county-level database study.

While tax collection would still occur at the town level, a county database would provide one-stop access to the tax history of each county parcel. Collectors would update the database regularly.

Ms. Kolts stressed that both studies are intended merely to present options, with changes implemented only if they're deemed financially feasible and advantageous.

Reports from both studies will be presented to county legislators for their review and possible action.

The county will be eligible for an additional $25,000 on the assessing study once it is presented to legislators and submitted to the state Office of Real Property Services, Ms. Kolts said. An extra $25,000 also is available for the database study, but only if the county implements such a system, she said.

At least 27 other counties, including Jefferson and St. Lawrence, also are studying countywide assessing, while at least 19 others are studying centralized data for tax collection, according to the Office of Real Property Services Web site.