The Town and City of Tonawanda have started the interview process Friday as part of their search for a new property assessor that would service both municipalities.

Town Councilman Joseph Emminger said Thursday that there are three finalists, including Lancaster Assessor Dave Marrano, who are being reviewed for the position.

The councilman added that the selection committee in charge of picking the next assessor, reached out to the Town of Lancaster to see if it would be interested in possibly sharing this service with the two municipalities.

“We’d like to share more services in the future with surrounding municipalities,” said Emminger, adding that a plan will be in place sometime next month for this shared service. “We are still reviewing parts of the plan to determine if the person who fills this position can handle three or more municipalities.”

During its public work session held Jan. 17, the Lancaster Town Board discussed the idea of sharing this service with the Tonawandas; however, no deal has been reached at this point.

For the time being, Emminger stressed that the individual hired to fill the slot would serve as assessor for the 35,000 combined parcels between the Town and City of Tonawanda at a salary between $80,000 and $90,000.

He added that he wanted to dismantle any rumors that the committee had already selected a candidate and also noted that there wasn’t a plan in place to add any more municipalities to the duties as of yet.

“We’re just beginning the interviews, and we won’t have a service plan in place until February ... a plan to include another municipality is far off,” said Emminger.