PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County assessor’s office will have a temporary change in office and phone hours to help address the workload that has arisen due to resource constraints.

The new hours will be from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday. It will be closed all day Friday.

The change will be in effect until April 2.

In April, the office will reassess its progress and determine next steps, county Assessor Pam Rushton told the county commissioners during their Monday work session.

This backlog is largely due to budget cuts that resulted in cutting an administrative position in the assessor’s office. The employee was chiefly responsible for processing senior citizen and disabled exemptions. Now, the workload has to be distributed among the remaining staff, Rushton said.

The assessor’s office will use the extra time to resolve returned mail, complete the 2024 Agriculture Current Use Audit, prepare for a possible upcoming code change and catch up on other work.

Earlier this year, the county Department of Community Development underwent a similar schedule change that allowed it to catch up on its work and better serve the public, Administrator Todd Mielke said.