The seat is up for grabs this year. But, what does the job entail? With Election Day quickly approaching, WMBD News is getting a series of civics lessons from Dr. Megan Remmel, Political Science Professor at Bradley University.
Peoria County Auditor Jessica Thomas, the Democratic incumbent, will look for success in her first reelection bid as she takes on Libertarian Joe Rusch, best known for founding the Central Illinois Champions Baseball League.
Remmel said the position does what it describes.
“The county auditor is kind of what you think of as being an auditor. They’re basically the county accountant,” she said.
“The idea here is, they’re in charge of disbursing funds. So, they’re the ones who actually pay what are called warrants, they issue checks, and paying all the county obligations.
“They’re distributing tax dollars to small townships, villages, school districts, [and] transportation districts. So, when you get your property tax records, for instance, and you see the percentage going to school district or library district or something like that, your county auditor is the one actually sending those checks over and distributing the funds.”
A good comparison, Remmel said, is to a rather unpopular agency.
“Just like their name says, they’re also in charge of auditing. So, they’re in charge of kind of like what you think of when you think of the IRS doing auditing,” she said.
“They’re trying to make sure money is being accounted for properly; that it’s being sent properly. They’re looking for efficiencies to try to make sure money is being spent in as appropriate a way as possible, they do just like an accountant would, where they’re going to put together quarterly reports and provide information to the county commission about how money is being spent, how much is coming in, [and] how much is going out.
“That’s going to be particularly appropriate during the pandemic, where tax revenues have dropped for a lot of localities across the country. And so, a lot of these budgeting decisions these commissions have to make are coming from the county auditor’s office.”
More from the Civics 101 series:
