What is a state treasurer, and what do they do?

BY BRADEN WHITE | LINK nky CONTRIBUTOR

Who oversees state funds and spending within the state of Kentucky? What are the day-to-day responsibilities as treasurer?

Kentucky’s treasurer could be most closely compared to the state’s CFO, said Ryan Salzman, an associate political science professor at Northern Kentucky University and Bellevue City Council member.

When Kentuckians pay their state taxes, that money goes through the treasurer,

Salzman said, likening some of the responsibilities of a treasurer to being a bookkeeper for the state – overseeing and tracking all funds and revenue.

“When you pay your taxes, you cut your check to the treasurer,” he said. “The actual money comes in to them, and then they reconcile when the money goes out to the other agencies and departments. They keep the books for the state.”

The treasurer is part of the statewide constitutional offices. Other such offices in- clude governor, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer and attorney general.

According to Salzman, the state treasurer has a lot of oversight power.

“They would recommend to people, like the attorney general, if they think that something untoward has been happening in, say, an agency,” Salzman said. “The treasurer may catch what’s happening, much like your bookkeeper or your accountant. Then they would have a direct line to the other offices that would have the power to fix those things, more than likely, so it’s mostly oversight.”

The state treasurer’s duties could include providing transparency for Kentuckians about financial budgets and spending, similar to an auditor.

“They have some powers of being able to request information from people, much like an auditor,” Salzman said. “The treasurer, in the hierarchy of power among constitutional offices, is toward the bottom.”

The day-to-day role of treasurer could include many responsibilities, including managing and moving money from properties to other state agencies, he said. Another duty is overseeing unclaimed property – or abandoned financial assets –which could include payroll checks, old life insurance policies and many more.

Typical daily duties include bookkeeping with state funds and revenue.

“Even though you and I pay our state income tax once a year in the spring, there are a lot of businesses that have to pay their taxes to the state,” Salzman said. “Whether it’s sales tax or different kinds of business taxes like payroll taxes, they are being collected by the state.”

Allison Ball, the current state treasurer, is involved with a good deal of public outreach and education as part of the role. She has worked with a multitude of groups around the state since being elected in 2015, and the financial literacy programs she helped design are mandatory for high school students to graduate in the state of Kentucky.

“That’s been a big lift that she’s done,” Salzman said. “The treasurer can be involved in some economic development issues as well, but I would probably cite that financial literacy piece as being one of the biggest ones.”

One significant issue the treasurer would oversee is the ongoing digitization of how businesses and residents pay revenue to the state.

“The biggest deal over the last 10 or 20 years has been the continued automation and digitization of all governmental processes,” Salzman said. “That’s not unique to the treasurer, but when it comes to people paying revenues and sending things in, shifting things and digitizing things has probably been a pretty big task for them.”

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PURSUANT TO KRS 424.290, “MATTERS REQUIRED TO BE PUBLISHED,” THE FOLLOWING RACES WILL APPEAR ON THE VOTING MACHINES AND PAPER BALLOTS IN THE PRECINCTS LISTED IN BOONE COUNTY FOR THE PRIMARY ELECTION, MAY 16, 2023.

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