Submitted by Ann Pfeifer
I live in Hays with my husband, Ernie Pfeifer III and our three children. In 2007, I received my Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from FHSU with a Mathematics minor and Leadership certificate while working for Golden Plains Credit Union, gaining practical financial experience. After graduation, I worked at FHSU Student Fiscal Services as an Accounting Specialist from January 2008 until securing my position as Accounting Manager with the Ellis County Treasury in November 2010.
I was subsequently elected to the Ellis County Treasurer position in November 2012. Since then, the Kansas County Treasurer’s Association has awarded me the Certified Kansas County Finance Officer Certification after completing the program administered by FHSU Docking Institute in 2016. Currently I am completing the KU Certified Public Manager (CPM) program with my projected completion date December 2016 and am an active member in the Hays Area Young Professionals.
My Responsibilities as Current Treasurer:
• Process tag and tax transactions
• Money Management – $28-million-dollar banking portfolio for the county
• Process all County transactions in accounting system, including all bookkeeping for two improvement districts and the Public Building Commission
• Assist other offices and entities in accounting matters
• Collect and distribute $47.8 million of your taxes and fees, 33% kept by county, 0.6% delinquency rate
• Answer questions of taxing entities: state, county, cities, schools, townships, etc.
• Appraiser, Clerk and Treasurer work closely on many tasks
• Manage the EZ Pay Escrow program, which allows taxpayers to save for tax and motor vehicle transactions – 659 active accounts
Changes I have Implemented:
Many of these changes were in the planning phases before I became treasurer, and I, along with my staff and other departments, have since successfully implemented all of them. They include county issued bonds for the Old 40 road bond in May 2015; three Public Building Commission building projects in July 2015; a new accounting system in May 2013; a tax system in September 2013; in January 2014, the State of Kansas implemented the Commercial Vehicle system. In January 2015, I helped move the Treasurer’s office from the Courthouse to the new permanent location in the Administrative Center at 718 Main Street.
Accomplishments:
Through enhancements and innovations, the following efficiencies and cost savings have happened.
• The EZ Pay processing for the Automatic Clearing House (ACH) pull done twice a month has been partially automated through an enhancement so now it takes a quarter of the time to process.
• Since 2014, the office has worked with a local vendor to reduce the time it takes to process tax statements from 3-4 weeks to process to 8-10 days. This has reduced the overtime needed during tax season, which helps reduce the amount of taxes levied to run the Treasurer’s office.
• The delinquent Real Estate publication, published in three consecutive weeks in August, has been printed smaller to help reduce the total cost from $5,148 in 2014, $3,523 in 2015 and $2,387 in 2016. A larger print is available online and can be mailed if requested.
• For taxpayer convenience, the treasurer’s office has a website e-treasury.us where information can be accessed 24 hours a day. The most popular areas of the site are the tax search engine and the motor vehicle tax estimator for vehicles which are linked on the bottom of the home page. In August, a redesigned e-treasury.us website was launched to make the site more mobile friendly.
Future Plans if Re-elected
• With a 7% reduction in budget from 2016 to 2017, I, with the help of my staff, will review Line Management to find a better way of managing long lines during busy times.
• I plan to look at efficiencies and cost savings in the tax statement mailing process. We are in the beginning phases of working with our software vendor and mail processor to determine which cost and time saving options would be best.
• I would like to offer payroll deduction to all the employers of Ellis County, not just employees of Ellis County. This would allow taxpayers to have EZ Pay Escrow contributions deducted from their paychecks and put into an account with the Treasury, to be used for tax or motor vehicle transactions in Ellis County. This project would be implemented in multiple phases.
I believe that every taxpayer has a stake in the county. As a wife and mother of three, I want to do my part to make Ellis County a wonderful place to live, not only for my family but for future generations. I would like to thank you for allowing me to serve as your county treasurer. I humbly ask for you to vote Ann Pfeifer as Ellis County Treasurer in the November 8, 2016 election.
Ann Pfeifer is the Democratic candidate for the office of Ellis County Treasurer.