Commissioners will decide Tuesday if county office will be axed
Published 12:00 am Friday, March 22, 2002
It may take a petition to permit taxpayers to continue to vote for Mower County treasurer and auditor.
Friday, March 22, 2002
It may take a petition to permit taxpayers to continue to vote for Mower County treasurer and auditor.
In four short days, Mower County commissioners will decide, by resolution, whether to eliminate one elected county official. It will take four-fifths of the board to approve the resolution.
But that won’t be the end of the issue.
If the commissioners approve the resolution on Tuesday at their regular meeting, auditor and treasurer will become one office. The county will have to publish the resolution on March 29 and April 5 and candidates will be running in November for the combined office.
However, Mower County residents could petition to have the issue put on a special ballot so they can vote on whether to combine the offices or keep them separate. The petition would require signatures of 1,875 registered Mower County voters.
Organizers of the petition would have until May 6 to file a petition and gather the required number of signatures. The auditor must then verify that the signatures are valid and of eligible voters and no duplications.
The referendum vote would be held at the end of May so that the votes can be canvassed by June 2, 30 days prior to the opening of filing for the two positions.
If a valid petition brings the county to the polls the end of May, and if the referendum to keep the two offices separate passes, voters will vote for two offices in November. If the petition requirements are met or the voters don’t approve the special referendum, residents will vote on a combined office in November.
At a public informational meeting Thursday evening, the board of commissioners gave residents a time to speak about combining the offices of county treasurer and auditor.
Commissioner David Hillier explained that the board had decided to combine the offices because of imminent retirements in the two offices. He said it would allow the transition to take place without forcing someone out of office or causing a runoff between the elected department heads.
Hillier said the combined offices would have the same number of employees. In addition to the combined offices, a finance director would be hired by the board to oversee financial duties. That person would be required to have a bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, business administration or a related field.
About 75 people were in attendance at the Senior Center and Paul Main, Bennington Township clerk, was the first to speak out.
He said, "I’m real adamant about (not) pushing anything through that fast."
Main said he’d rather wait and have a treasurer and auditor work another four years while the county researched and spent more time evaluating the office and finding exactly what kind of savings the county would have by combining the offices.
Waltham Township treasurer Tom Small said the individual offices of auditor and treasurer are now held accountable to voters. Accountability of finance director would be lost in bureaucracy.
County auditor Woody Vereide said a special referendum election would cost Mower County about $25,000-$30,000.
Each commissioner gave their opinion following the residents input. Commissioner Garry Ellingson said, "Hopefully we make the right decision. Only time and history will tell us."
Call Ailene Dawson at 434-2235 or e-mail her at ailene.dawson@austindailyherald.com.