Investing in Erie County

When I ran for Erie County treasurer in 2020, I advocated for making a variety of changes to the treasurer's office. They include overhauling our county investment policy, rejuvenating our land bank, modernizing and streamlining operations in the office making our office more accessible and transparent to taxpayers and being a good steward of taxpayer dollars. I am thrilled about the progress we have made since I took office in September of 2021 and excited to build on that progress in 2022. Before I ran for treasurer, Erie County's investment policy was not optimal for our county government. First, we were not investing enough and were instead keeping much of our money in places that were not bringing much of a return. I have moved tens of millions of dollars into safe investments that will provide a much higher yield, especially as interest rates increase. As of January of 2022, Erie County has more than $100 million in investments, which is nearly double what it was when I announced my intention to run for treasurer. In addition, we have overhauled our county investment policy for the first time in more than 20 years to ensure that we are prioritizing investments that are safe and provide return. The policy also ensures that we will no longer invest in foreign-headquartered entities. I strongly believe that there are plenty of outstanding and safe investment opportunities right here in the State of Ohio and the United States of America. Another major priority was to restart operations of the Erie County land bank. The land bank board has hired a new director, Alex Jones, who is providing strong leadership for the organization as we move into 2022. So far, we have sold several parcels that have remained in our inventory for years and are continuing to make great progress in getting these properties back on the tax rolls. Additionally, in conjunction with the Erie County commissioners, I allocated 5% of the delinquency tax and assessment collections to the land bank, which offers a sustainable funding source for the organization for the first time in its history. We are also grateful for new funding opportunities from the State of Ohio for brownfield remediation and demolition. After becoming treasurer, it became apparent that many of our operations were either out of date or not optimal for taxpayers. So far, we have made several adjustments to streamline and modernize our operations: • First, we have drastically reduced our bank services fees by working with our financial institutions. This will save Erie County taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars. • Also, we have negotiated a significant reduction in service charges for taxpayers when making tax payments online with a debit or credit card. • We have also upgraded various equipment in the treasurer's office to reduce cost and increase efficiency. • Moving forward, our office plans to offer the ability to accept debit/credit cards in office by the end of 2022 and offer even more convenient methods for residents to pay their taxes online. • Additionally, for the 2022 first and second half tax years, we plan on spending one week collecting taxes in each area of Erie County. We will offer taxpayers who live all throughout Erie County a convenient option of paying their taxes in the community in which they live. Finally, I'm proud that the treasurer's office is among the only departments in Erie County to reduce our budget in the county's general fund. I take being a good steward of taxpayer dollars extremely seriously. And while we are among the smaller departments in the county (four full-time and two part-time/seasonal employees), we fulfill vital functions to our local governments. I am very grateful to the great team in our office for their hard work this last year. We are all honored to serve the citizens of Erie County. Caleb StidhamErie County Treasurer If you want to submit a Local Voices column, please email it to brandonaddeo@tandemnetwork.com. Columns should be 500-750 words and include the writer's headshot, or other photo.