EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
Two years ago when Todd Stanton ran for the Seward County Commission, he suggested that a Chief Financial Officer was needed to help with the $40-million county budget.
For two years, no discussions on the position have taken place during a regular county commission meeting on adding a CFO. However, the county did add an assistant county administrator position in the past two years despite the added cost of the position rather than discussing the need for a CFO. At Wednesday’s Seward County Commission candidate’s forum sponsored by the Liberal Chamber of Commerce, the question was asked if the candidates supported the addition of a CFO.
Dist. 4 candidate Jose Lara was the first to respond and said the position was an absolute necessity.
“Part of the conversation about the budget is to understand a governmental budget,” Lara said. “It is not like a business. A lot of what they do is quality of life or to take care of the community. You have to understand how those budgets work. There is only so much money you can charge a person. Any fee for a service is just another tax. You already collect property tax and a fee is another tax. A CFO helps you understand where you are financially, where every department needs to be, and we would not have been able to do it without the CFOs we have had at the city. It is necessary for any governmental entity the size we are.”
His competitor Fred Bloom believed other elected officials could perform the duties required of a CFO.
“I am not in favor of a CFO,” Bloom said. “Companies stress getting a CFO. It’s another person on the payroll. It would be a $150,000 to $200,000 payroll expense. There is no place for that. The county clerk and county treasurer can take care of that.”
Dist. 2 candidate Kay Burtzloff supported the addition of a CFO.
“Prior to moving here I was in higher education for 15 years,” Burtzloff said. “I worked with effective and ineffective CFOS. I have seen the difference between those who can do the analysis, the breakdown, look at our tax base — that trained individual can do that analysis and has the background to give that to the commission and other elected officials. It would help overall and pay for itself.”
Her opponent and current commissioner Clay Louderback did not support the addition of a CFO.
“I’ve done a lot of homework, and in all the counties I found in Kansas, two resemble what a CFO would be, and they are much larger,” he said. “We have a treasurer and a clerk with eyes on our money. When it comes time for the budget, you have commissioners, admin — multiple eyes going over the budget, and when you are at RNR, there’s not much money to save, period.”
District 3 challenger Lizzette Avalos-Morales saw the CFO as a tool for county leadership.
“I believe if the budget allows it, we should have a CFO,” she said. “They give you analysis and oversight. All the departments have directors and supervisors and some without any experience managing larger amounts of money and grants. A CFO would provide the necessary support. It would be another position, but it could also help us reduce costs in other areas. That’s what they work on. It could be very beneficial to the county to make informed decisions about the money we are spending.”
Dist. 3 Commissioner Jairo Vazquez said he was not supportive of a CFO but said new information could change his position.
“With the research and what I’ve seen, I am not in favor, but I am open to new information that might change that opinion,” he said. “A good CFO could cost $150,000 to $170,000. That’s more than half a mill. That’s a lot of money. We could find some of that in the budget, but we went through everything. If someone could find that money they are worth that money, I don’t see how it will benefit us. The county is a different beast. Elected officials allow us to work with them on their budgets, but if they don’t want to they don’t have to.”
After all six candidates had a chance to respond, Lara rebutted the idea the treasurer and clerk could fill the role of a CFO.
“No offense to the clerk or treasurer, but they have jobs to do,” he said. “I don’t know if they have accounting degrees. It would take a full time job to review the departments and dollars in and out, and you are asking elected department heads to understand their departments and all the others, too. A CFO is necessary.”
Avalos-Morales also responded that the process didn’t seem to provide the proper oversight that a CFO could help provide.
“At one of the recent meetings, some department heads said they did not appreciate the budget process,” she said. “They weren’t asked questions, they weren’t informed on the decisions the commissioners were going to make. I watched those meetings, and a department head would benefit, and maybe we call it a finance director, but it is something we should consider to support our staff.”
The election for Seward County commissioners in Dist. 2, 3 and 4 will take place Nov. 3.
