County urges ‘yes’ vote to abolish elected treasurer position

ALFRED, Maine – With a professional finance director, finance manager, a skilled finance staff of four and an “A” grade from auditors, York County Commissioners are asking voters Nov. 3 to abolish the part-time elected treasurer position and appoint a treasurer, instead.

In York County, the elected treasurer post serves little purpose, county officials say, and the state statute governing the position requires no financial qualifications – in fact, the statute states only one requirement: that the person elected be a county resident.

The question on the Nov. 3 ballot asks “Shall the position of elected County Treasurer be abolished and replaced with a Treasurer appointed by the County Commissioners?”

Maine statues state that an appointed treasurer, “must be qualified in the matters of business administration and finance.”

Commissioners who spoke about the elected treasurer position at a Sept. 16 regular meeting say in today’s world, skilled, financially trained and adept personnel are needed – and are indeed in place.

“Our (annual) budget is north of $25 million, we need professional expertise to manage that amount of money,” said York County Commissioner Richard Clark. He pointed out that the part-time elected treasurer position “doesn’t speak to … efficiency, skills, financial management or understanding of budgets.”

York County Commissioners voted nearly 20 years ago to place finance operations in the hands of a professional finance director and staff, with investment decisions made in consultation with the board and county management. That decision came in the aftermath of the discovery in late 2006 and early 2007 of a $1.2 million fund balance deficit, due, those in county government at the time recall, to accounting errors and a lack of timely audits. The elected board of York County Commissioners and an ad-hoc committee set about to right the ship – and they did.

York County Commission Chair Richard Dutremble is retired from his professional life, where he worked as a financial cost analyst and managed budgets in the $100 million range in private industry, and later served as a comptroller in municipal government.

“In 2007, the county was basically bankrupt,” said Dutremble, who had joined the board of commissioners in mid-2006, just months before the financial condition of the county was discovered. He recalled that hiring a finance professional was one of the first tasks the board undertook to get back on track.

“We took the bull by the horns and set up a finance director position,” he recalled of that time. “The (elected) treasurer’s position was obsolete.”

Fast forward to early 2026, when Dutremble pronounced that York County’s finances are “in the best shape they’ve been in 20 years.”

“I’m proud of where we started and where we are now,” said Dutremble. “You can’t drop the ball. Every time you do a budget you have to make sure you’re right on top of it, and that it’s a reasonable one, and that the revenues and expenses are what they should be.”

A report from the auditing firm RHR Smith & Company bears that out. The firm undertakes three audits annually for the County of York – the financial statement audit and one each for federal and state compliance, because the county receives funds from both entities.

“If we found problems, if we found error…..we’d be required to report that to you in a separate letter and modify our report,” RHR Smith & Company Managing Partner Ron Smith told commissioners during an August presentation. “None of that happened in the County of York.”

Smith noted that York County received the firm’s highest opinion – an “A” grade.

County leaders have been contemplating abolishing the elected treasurer position for some time. In 2015, several years after establishing the finance office, commissioners voted to reduce the salary of the elected part-time treasurer position to $500 annually, starting in 2018. Also in 2018, they voted to put the treasurer question to the voters, but the referendum to abolish the position failed to pass.

At the time, some voters indicated they believed an elected treasurer provided “an extra set of eyes,” on the county’s finances.

“Is it really an extra set of eyes?” County Manager Greg Zinser asked, pointing out the statute’s sole required qualification of residence for the elected treasurer position, and today’s complexities of finance management, grant administration and other like matters. “And just as important, the county has developed the finance director approach.”

The current treasurer is Democrat Stacy Kilroy, who was appointed to the position in May 2024 by Gov. Janet Mills upon the resignation of the prior elected treasurer, Bobby Mills. Kilroy is not seeking re-election, and her term expires Dec. 31.

As well as the referendum to abolish the elected treasurer position, voters will also receive a ballot to elect a treasurer; Mills, also a Democrat, threw his hat in the ring and is the sole candidate for the post in the Nov. 3 election.

State election officials have noted that according to statute, if the county referendum to abolish the elected treasurer position is approved, the treasurer election itself would be rendered moot.

“Our interpretation of (the statute) is that if both the question and the office are on the ballot in November, and the voters vote to abolish the position, whoever is elected treasurer would have no office to serve in,” Deputy Secretary of State Julie Flynn wrote in an email.

York County is among three Maine counties looking to abolish the elected treasurer position Nov. 3. Franklin and Washington counties also have the question on the ballot.

Currently, Cumberland, Androscoggin and Knox counties appoint treasurers.

If York County voters approve the referendum, York County Commissioners would appoint an individual to fill the treasurer role – that could be someone within the county administration like the manager, the finance director, or another individual.

“It seems like our county has outgrown the need for the (elected)  treasurer’s position,” said Commissioner Robert Andrews. “It’s an unnecessary position at this time, and in our best interest to streamline and eliminate that position.”