Auditor-Treasurer

The auditor / treasurer is a constitutional officer who is appointed by the Board of Commissioners. The auditor / treasurer is designated by the Secretary of State as register of voters and chief custodian of official voter registration records. He/She is responsible for training election judges and officials, printing ballots, registering voters, filing certain candidates, providing ballots and election supplies to the county's 40 voting precincts, receiving and tabulating election ballots, and reporting the results to secretary of state.

The auditor / treasurer is appointed deputy registrar of motor vehicles by the commissioner of public safety and is responsible for overseeing the license center.

Duties

• County Funds Management - A principal duty of the auditor / treasurer is the management of county funds. As the county's investment officer, it is the auditor / treasurer's responsibility to invest those county funds that are temporarily surplus; all investments must meet state statutes. The county auditor / treasurer deposits all county funds on a timely basis in county banks designated as depositories.
• Records - The Auditor / Treasurer’s Office maintains up-to-date records, transfer cards, tax maps, and certificates of value on each of the approximate 22,000 parcels of land in the county to include description and ownership. He/She notes daily changes involving transfers, sales, splits, mortgages, etc. The auditor / treasurer maintains the official financial records for the county (i.e., ledgers, journals, and related documents) and signs all warrants and checks issued against the county.
• Special Assessment Collections - The auditor / treasurer collects special assessments for cities and townships relating to water, sewer, sidewalk, curb and gutter, ditch repairs, and then remits the money to the cities or tax authority.
• Tax Capacity Calculations - Based on the budgets of the county, townships, cities, school districts, and special taxing districts which are certified to him/her, and based on the tax capacity of those districts certified to him/her by the county assessor, he/she calculates the tax capacity rates on which all taxes are levied and computes taxes on each parcel of land for real and personal taxes.
• Tax Collections - All real, personal property and mobile home taxes are collected by the county auditor / treasurer. After the tax collection period, he must pay the treasurers of the school districts, cities, and townships the money collected on their behalf.