WARREN — Trumbull County commissioners are discussing requesting an opinion from the Ohio Attorney General’s office to address a dispute between Engineer David DeChristofaro and Auditor Martha Yoder in the movement of the county’s tax map office from the auditor’s office to the engineer’s office.

Commissioners Tony Bernard and Rick Hernandez, during Wednesday’s workshop meeting, discussed getting an opinion from the attorney general’s office after being told by Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Bill Mason that DeChristofaro is expected to seek approval to hire an outside attorney to represent his office in settling the dispute. Mason told the commissioners if they approve the hiring of an outside attorney for the engineer’s office, then he would expect the auditor to make the same request.

Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins likely would be open to seeking a legal opinion from the attorney general’s office on the merits of the dispute, Mason said. When asked by Bernard who would be responsible for paying for these attorneys, Mason noted the funds for both attorneys likely would come from the county’s general fund.

The tax map office has been operated out of the auditor’s office since 2000. However, according to Ohio Revised Code, it should be operated out of the engineer’s office.

Yoder and DeChristofaro have been discussing the move for about a year.

The office reviews and approves surveys done by professional surveyors that indicate boundary lines for the county, reviews property descriptions and does custom mapping, deed transfers and approvals.

DeChristofaro recently said he would not take on tax map responsibilities unless the auditor’s office also turned over geographic information system (GIS) duties that would allow his department to electronically draw boundaries of the properties for the mapping.

“GIS is the tax map,” he said. “You can’t separate the two.”

Yoder responded that the GIS system contains many layers above and beyond the tax map layer that her office uses for appraisals and other purposes. She argues Ohio Revised Code states tax maps are to be used by the county’s board of revision and the auditor and therefore kept in the auditor’s office.

Yoder notes the county’s GIS system was initially established in the late 1990s.

Hernandez noted there should be a way to get the two offices together to find a solution without forcing the county to hire attorneys for each side. However, Bernard said they appear to be very far apart in their positions.

He suggested that obtaining an opinion from the attorney general’s office may be enough to get one side or the other to move closer to a solution.

“It may not,” Bernard said.

However, he added, it is worth the effort to possibly get to a resolution without costing taxpayers any additional money.