Davis and Erickson almost
assured second terms
by Mike Kroll
At
just over five months until the March 21, 2006 primary most of the news and
speculation has concerned candidates for governor or congress but local
candidates should also be vying
for a spot on the November ballot for Knox County offices. That seems unlikely
as it currently appears that none of the four incumbent county officials
standing for reelection will be challenged either in the primary or general
election. Only one, Sheriff Jim Thompson has officially announced candidacy for
reelection but County Clerk Scott Erickson and County Treasurer Robin Davis
confirmed for me this week that both will be seeking reelection and are
currently circulating petitions. Those petitions must be submitted to
Erickson's office between December 12th and 19th. It is confidently anticipated
that Regional Superintendent Bonnie Harris will also seek reelection.
Although
they are affiliated with rival parties Davis and Erickson like and respect one
another and have developed a close working relationship within the Courthouse.
Davis is the ÒseniorÓ elected official of the two having easily won the
Treasurer's office in 2002 against Republican stockbroker Ernie Miller who
moved away shortly after the election. In that same election former Republican
star Marc Wong narrowly defeated Steve Buck for County Clerk, but Wong was
arrested for theft and forgery less than three months after that election and
resigned immediately prior to pleading guilty in December 2003. Erickson was
appointed County Clerk and served until a special election in November 2004
where he won the office in his own right in yet another battle with Buck.
The
duties and responsibilities of the two offices require that the Clerk and
Treasurer work together and Erickson and Davis have done that for two years
now. Both have handled the administrative duties of their offices in a
non-political manner and actually praise each other's office. So much so that
both candidly admitted that more of their political challenges originate in
their own parties than across parties. Davis has been forced to manage the
counties threadbare treasury but at least she had ten years experience in the
Treasurer's office while Erickson has had to learn a complicated and detailed
job amidst a total reorganization of the county board and wholesale
transformation of the county election system.
ÒIt's
been a very good experience and I have learned an awful lot about what is
actually done in this office,Ó acknowledged Erickson. ÒI really had no idea of
the full scope and details of the Clerk's office before I got here by I must
thank my great staff for all they have done to help me learn the job. There's
always new stuff that keeps coming up but I think I have developed a pretty
good grasp of the office now.Ó
It
could be argued that administrative offices like the Clerk and Treasurer or
Sheriff shouldn't be political. They present daunting challenges and precious
little time for learning when an outsider like Erickson wins one of these posts.
In many ways her decade working under former Treasurer Carolyn Griffith
prepared Davis for her job but Davis herself cautions that even she
underestimated how much she would have to learn or just how political an
administrative office can become. ÒWhen I was elected I knew pretty well how
the Treasurer's office worked day-to-day but I had no idea what to expect
politically. I was forced to learn the political aspects of this job on-the-job
and I have the cuts and bruises to prove it.Ó
Brining
fiscal order and responsibility to perpetually cash-strapped Knox County was a
tall order and not one that Davis could accomplish on her own. She campaigned
on a promise to implement zero-based budgeting but she knew well enough that
ultimately the Knox County Board and not the Treasurer set the budget and
established spending priorities. The numbers show Davis to be working in the
right direction. Knox County finished fiscal year 2002 (immediately prior to
Davis assuming office) with a budget shortfall of $3.454 million but two years
later concluded fiscal year 2004 $1.2 million to the good. Davis expects to
finish the present budget year in the black but by a much smaller margin-- but
she has very real concerns about next year's county budget. ÒI took it upon myself to more
aggressively present financial data to the County Board and I really believe
that Knox County is today more fiscally responsible than when I took office.
Most of the credit for that has to go to the County Board but I'd like to think
my office has played an important role. We're not out of the woods by any means
and we will need to carefully monitor both income and revenues during the next
year; property tax income will be lower due to declining equalized assessed
property values and a capped general fund tax rate.Ó
Property
taxes are another area of mutual shared experience between Davis and Erickson.
The last few years have seen one crisis after another cause confusion and
delays in preparing property tax bills. By state statute all of the property
tax supported bodies must submit their tax levy (total amount of tax money
requested) to the Clerk's office. Meanwhile the Supervisor of Assessments must
submit final equalized assessed property values so the Clerk can calculate
property tax extensions. In essence, the Clerk's office divides the levy amount
by the relevant total assessed property values to determine a tax rate for each
tax-funded body. Next these rates and the property values for every parcel in
the county are sent to the Treasurer's office where tax bills are calculated,
printed and mailed to county property owners.
Before
either Davis or Erickson were elected their predecessors and Knox County
Supervisor of Assessments Joyce Skinner opted to purchase brand new tax
software that never worked right and resulted in numerous problems and delays,
particularly in tax bills mailed in the Summer of 2004 and the collection of
those receipts. This past summer was nearly a repeat of that infamous year but
fortunately tax bills just barely got out on time. There are already rumblings
that new software delays related to the new GIS integration may result in
delays next spring. These past problems have caused many headaches for Knox
County officials and unnecessary expense for the tax bodies and neither Davis
nor Erickson wants to see this crop up again next Spring or Summer. ÒOur two
offices have taken a lot of political heat for problems that originated
elsewhere we do not want to see that repeated,Ó noted Davis.
Another
political hot potato that affects both the Clerk and Treasurer's offices is the
issue of a county administrator. During budget discussions the Knox County
Board declined to renew county administrator Alan Hallberg's contract for the
next fiscal year. County Board Chair Jan Occhi has already said that when
Hallberg leaves at the end of November his duties will be split between other
officials. This change will directly impact on the Clerk's office but Erickson
isn't worried. ÒI think the transition will go much smoother than most anticipate
just as the new committee of the whole system has actually worked much better
than the former County Board structure.Ó And Davis sees the immediate savings
from eliminating Hallberg's salary as a necessary case of fiscal
responsibility. ÒOn a cost-benefit basis for Knox County this was an obvious
and prudent move by the County Board.Ó
During
their first terms in office both Davis and Erickson point to improved customer
service and convenience, better space efficiency and cost effective operations
as evidence that both offices are running smoothly. Anecdotal comments from
those patronizing the courthouse would tend to support this assertion. While
few of us look forward to conducting Courthouse business but at least fewer of
us dread it quite so much. Both officials are operating on the apparently
realistic assumption that even if they were challenged for re-election that the
voters would conclude Òif it ain't broke it doesn't need fixing.Ó