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Rematch in Hill County treasurer race

For the second time in four years, candidates facing off in the Hill County treasurer’s race bring experience to the table, with the Democratic primary a rematch of the 2010 race with the positions reversed.

Incumbent Hill County Treasurer Sandy Brown is facing her former boss, Carrie Dickson, who Brown defeated in the 2010 Democratic primary 1,414 to 935.

Both bring years of experience to the table, with Dickson sporting 21 years as a four-term treasurer who worked in the office before running for the top position, and Brown also clerking in the office, starting in 1999 before winning the 2010 election.

The Democratic primary will, as it did in 2010, determine the next treasurer. No other-party candidates have filed in the race.

In 2010, Republican Bill Gupton filed as a candidate, but withdrew after taking a job in Anaconda.

Deputy Hill County Treasurer Wanda Mork applied to the Hill County Republican Central Committee to take his place as the candidate, but the Hill County GOP declined to accept her. Brown then was unopposed in the 2010 general election.

Select issues discussed

The Havre Daily News asked the candidates about themselves and some select issues facing the treasurer and assessor’s office. Their answers follow.

Why should the voters vote for you?

Brown said she believes she should win because she not only likes the job, she is working to make the office run better, more efficiently and more productively.

“We have made a lot of changes in that office,” she said. “We have improved our technology, we are using the technology available to us.”

She said that, in times of tight budgets, she has had to reduce her staff from seven members to five members, but the office still runs efficiently, including because of the upgrades and changes she has implemented.

She wants to continue improving the office, Brown added.

“We have come a long ways,” she said. “We still have a lot left to do.”

Dickson said her 21 years in the office along with her accounting skills makes her the best candidate.

“My prior years of service sort of speak for themselves,” she said.

She said her accounting skills are key. The treasurer and assessor’s office basically is the county bank and bookkeeper, and “having an accounting background is absolutely paramount if you want things running the way they should,” she said.

She said she also has the best record in Hill County history for providing a return on the county’s money.

“I made the most money for the county in my investing policies,” Dickson said.

And taking care of the people who come to the office is a top priority, she said.

“Customer service is, and always has been with me, one of the most important things also for the office, being able to work with the public and the (other) agencies,” she said.

Dickson also said she enjoyed the job and working with the public, and she hopes she gets a chance to do so again.

Tax problems in 2011

One of the first major issues Brown had to deal with when she took office in January 2011 was a problem that could have shut down schools in the county.

The amount included on tax bills mailed out in November 2010 did not include all the taxes levied for school district budgets. Brown recomputed the amount that should have been included and mailed out new tax bills, with the additional amount to be paid in two installments that year.

“It was kind of a rough thing to do, retax everybody and try to explain,” she said in a recent interview.

Brown said the problem was that the mill levies were not entered correctly. Now, after she enters the school district information, which she receives from the state Office of Public Instruction and the information from the cities and county, she sends her data out to officials in the school districts, the county and the cities to make sure the figures match what those officials expect, she said.

“So I’m double checking. I have someone double-check me,” Brown said. “They read them and make sure it lines up with their budget.”

Dickson said the problem was incorrect information coming to her that fall.

“I’ve actually been doing that particular job for 21 years because I dealt with that as a clerk,” she said.

She said the information she entered was provided to the Hill County Commission by the county superintendent of schools, which then provided her office, and the offices of the appraiser and the clerk and recorder. The commission provides a report on what mills should be levied, Dickson said.

“The three (offices) are using the same data that was provided by that one office …,” she said. “That way you don’t have any chance of mistake, typically, any error, because every office is using that same information.”

She said she never received information from OPI about the school district budgets until after the mills were entered and the tax bills prepared.

“We have never used that in the procedure of Hill County,” she said. “The reason we use the sheet provided (by the commissioners) is it keeps consistency.”

Dickson said she always double- and triple-checked the figures, and in all years but one things were spot-on.

“So, I have to give myself that much credit,” she said, adding that, now, she would be a little “gun-shy” and would recheck the figures with the county commissioners to make certain they are accurate.

“We don’t normally run into this,” Dickson said, adding that other counties at times have had problems with changes or things not working out.

What are the biggest challenges facing

the treasurer and

assessor’s office?

Both Brown and Dickson said the biggest challenge facing the office is continuing the work in times of tight budgets.

“It’s facing the whole county,” Brown said. “Money is tight, so improvement and changing things is hard. There’s just a little bit for everybody to use.”

She added that making changes requires making sure all county departments can deal with the changes made in the treasurer’s office.

“There has to be communication when you try to change that stuff,” Brown said.

Increasing efficiency is a key to working in the tight budgets, she said, giving the two-person staff reduction while still providing the services as an example.

Little things add up, Brown added, saying something as simple as revising procedures so multiple items can be mailed to the same household instead of using multiple envelopes saves money.

“It’s just things people don’t think about,” she said. “It’s just little things that don’t seem like very much.”

Dickson said the biggest challenge is making the department run right during times of tight budgets.

“Whatever cuts that we have to take, the workload is still the same … for us, it’s obviously being able to still provide the excellent service and still get the job done with less,” she said.

Keeping up with new technology and keeping the office moving forward also is a major challenge, Dickson added.

“Technology, of course, is the wave of the future,” she said. “You have to stay on top of the new technologies, and new things are coming up.”

What are the strengths of the Hill County

treasurer’s office?

Both candidates also said the biggest strength of the office is its employees.

“We work together very well,” Brown said.

She added that changes she has made has increased the staff members knowledge of the system and their ability to serve the public.

“We’re able to provide the information pretty quickly,” she said.

Dickson made similar comments.

“If you have a good staff, you can get the job done. That’s it’s strength,” she said, adding, “if you’ve constantly got turnover there and you constantly have to have new emplyees … it’s hard to get the consistency. Your service is a little bit different if you’ve constantly got turnover … they’re trying to learn the job.”

Would you make

any changes in the

treasurer’s office?

Brown said she wants to continue to find ways to make the office run more efficiently and productively.

“We still have lots more to do,” she said.

One, she said, is continuing to reduce tax delinquencies in the county. The amount delinquent — the county started cracking down in 2011 when about $1.3 million was delinquent — has dropped dramatically.

“We’ve taken our delinquents down by such a huge amount but we still can do more,” she said.

Brown said another improvement would be sending more notices out to the public, which she has increased since she took office.

Another goal is to try to scan and better-preserve the records from past years, now stored in the courthouse basement, she said.

“Those old records mean a lot to some people,” Brown said.

Dickson also said making improvements — and making certain proper procedures or instruments are in place — is key for her.

“There is always updating, more modern technology, I would like to implement,” she said. “Obviously, of course, funding is everything.”

She said making sure issues like cash security are in place and making certain the proper investments to keep Hill County’s “four-star bond rating” in place are top goals for her.

 

 

Reader Comments(1)

themess writes:

Surely everyone remebers the mess Sandy Brown inherited when she took office. Glad your story covered the double tax bills from 4 years ago. Why would we want to go back to that mess? I am voting for Sandy as she has done a great job!

 
 
 
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