A Republican who has worked in the Allen County treasurer's office for years now wants the top job. The Democrat running against her said wide experience in private business gives her a fresh view that will bring new savings and efficiencies to the office.

Republican Susan Orth has been chief deputy treasurer of the county for nine years. That time has given her a long, close look at how the office works and how important it is to the county.

As chief deputy, she's been directly responsible for investing the cash held by the county. “In that time, we've made more than $43 million in investment interest,” she said.

Democrat Maria Parra acknowledges that managing investments capably is crucial for the treasurer, but state law constrains how much leeway treasurers have. County revenue can be parked only in certain categories of investments, and it cannot be invested in any financial instrument with a duration of more than two years, she said.

Orth's long tenure in the office has given her an intimate familiarity with its workings. “I know all the jobs; I wrote the manual for all the jobs,” she said.

In fact, Orth said, she'd be perfectly happy if government were restructured so the county treasurer became a hired, not an elected, position.

“I'd love to not have to run for office to get the job. I'd like to just go on my qualifications,” she said.

It's clear to her that some taxpayers are finding it more difficult to pay their bills. She helped develop two responses to provide people with more options. The first, an auto-debit program, allows taxpayers to have payments deducted from their bank accounts automatically. The second, which the treasurer's office is just beginning to promote, allows taxpayers to schedule monthly payments.

During her time as chief deputy, Orth said, the office has put much more of its publicly accessible information online, so people can have more of their questions answered without a trip to the treasurer's office or a phone call - both of which consume staff time.

On the question of how to contain costs in the future, both Parra and Orth are optimistic they can do more without hiring more staff.

Parra said her years of experience as a business analyst and consultant will allow her to take a fresh, clear-eyed look at what duties office employees are responsible for and how they carry those duties out.

As she has for numerous companies in the past, Parra said, she is confident she can use technology to increase the productivity of employees.

Orth has high hopes for planned cross-training with employees of the recorder's and auditor's offices. Ideally, that will enable employees of one office to help provide basic services to the public during rush periods in another office.

Parra cites two specific ideas she would like to implement to improve service for the public or cut costs.

As she's been campaigning in Allen County neighborhoods, she said she has noticed “people are not aware of the property-tax deductions or credits that are available.” She would work to get the word out about breaks on property tax that property owners might be eligible for.

She also said the treasurer's office has spent more than $100,000 sending out tax bills in the last year. Parra said she would try to cut those mailing costs by using electronic billing as much as possible.