County Surveyor

The basics

Term

4 years. ^[7]

Term limit

None (the surveyor is a constitutional office but not term-limited). ^[8]

Who may stand

Must have resided in the county at least one year before the election (Art. 6, Sec. 4), must keep residing in the county (the officer forfeits office on moving out), and must be registered to vote; candidates file a statement of economic interests. ^{[9, 10]} Professional registration is not required to run, but pay differs: the council must set a registered surveyor's pay at 1.5 times the unregistered rate. ^[11]

Training the law requires

Must complete 5 hours of newly-elected-official training before taking office (first term), then at least 15 hours within one year and 40 hours within three years after each election, using Association of Indiana Counties courses approved by the State Board of Accounts. Land-surveying continuing education counts for a registered surveyor. ^[12]

On the 2026 ballot

29 races in Indiana

What the law puts in this job

• If a competent civil engineer, plans and supervises all county surveying and civil engineering work under the commissioners' direction. ^[2]
• Technical authority on regulated drains and a nonvoting member of the drainage board; keeps the legal survey record and section-corner records. ^{[3, 4, 5, 6]}

What the officeholder decides

• Regulated drain maintenance and reconstruction assessments; section-corner perpetuation; GIS and floodplain mapping (statewide GIS base-map cooperation added in HEA 1210-2026). ^[8]

Who the officeholder answers to

• The county council fixes the officer's salary and the number and pay of deputies and staff in an annual salary ordinance; an elected officer's pay may not be changed during the year for which it is fixed. ^{[13, 14, 15]}
• Each officer files an itemized budget estimate before the Thursday after the first Monday in August and a positions/compensation statement before July 2; the council adopts the budget by Nov. 1. ^{[16, 17, 18]}
• The officer appoints deputies and staff within the positions the council authorizes, and keeps final authority over discipline of employees under the officer's supervision (new in 2026). ^{[19, 20]}
• Contracts an elected officer signs must be in the county's name and submitted to the commissioners for execution or review; the commissioners may void a contract signed without that review. ^{[21, 22]}
• Drainage board decisions (assessments, maintenance) are made by the commissioners or their appointees. ^[4]

What it pays, and who sets that

• Set by the council, at 1.5x for a registered professional surveyor, plus small per-mile drain and per-corner fees. ^[11]
• Varies by county.
• In the 22 of 29 counties where a salary line could be identified in the 2026 budget, elected-official pay lines ran from $12,740 to $110,357 (median $56,017). From county budget lines; verify against each county's salary ordinance. ^[1]

Questions worth asking a candidate

Ours, not a questionnaire anyone answered. They come from what the job actually involves.

• Are you a registered professional surveyor?
• Which regulated drains most need work, and how would landowners be assessed?
• How will you keep section corners and GIS records current?

Sources

Office research by Legal Insights (Oct. 13, 2026): Indiana Code 2026 edition, state agencies and county budgets. Nothing here rates an officeholder or candidate.