Visitors at the Butler County Courthouse might notice some changes.

The Tax Collector’s office recently exchanged offices with the Voter Registrars’ office.

Some may wonder why?

Tax Collector Belle Peavy requested the move due to her office’s space needs.

&uot;We just needed more room,&uot; she said. &uot;We were so crowded in the other office. We got the commissioners approval, and the registrars agreed to it.&uot;

Peavy said she primarily needed the extra space for her record storage needs.

&uot;The former office may have been adequate several years ago, but we sell a significantly larger number of tags these days,&uot; she said. &uot;Since we have to hang on to those records for at least six years, we need a good bit of storage space. There are even some records that we have to save indefinitely.&uot;

Peavy said her office also would benefit from the new &uot;One-Stop&uot; tag system, which is being implemented by the probate judge’s office in January 2004.

&uot;When the tag renewal system moves over there, it will lessen our paperwork load,&uot; she said. &uot;I have needed another clerk in my office to help with our workload for several years, but haven’t had the space to put them. When the tag system gets started, I won’t need that clerk anymore.&uot;

The tax collector said she and her clerks had to work overtime to get everything done.

With the move, Peavy said she and her staff are content and believe they can operate sufficiently.

&uot;Butler County commissioners have done a good job keeping our office upgraded,&uot; she said. &uot;We are getting new software and hardware for our computer system that will streamline the process, so we are in good shape.&uot;

On the other end of the building, the Voter Registrars’ office staff is just as pleased with the move.

Registrar Valara Rudolph said she likes the additional window space her new office affords.

&uot;The move hasn’t been a hardship for us at all,&uot; she said. &uot;Of course, no one really likes to move, but it hasn’t been a problem.&uot;

Rudolph’s officemate Nancy Sowell said she thought the move was well coordinated to fall after the recent elections.

&uot;Since we don’t have any elections coming up anytime soon, people will have time to find out about our move before they need to come see us,&uot; Sowell said. &uot;We’ve had several people coming here looking for the tax collector’s office, but none have seemed upset by the change.&uot;

Some of the registrars themselves will be moving out of the office on Sept. 30 when the new registrars take over. The new registrars’ names won’t be released until after Oct. 1.