County Treasurer-Tax Collector Chriss Street dodged a bullet last month when he was cleared of wrongdoing in a district attorney’s investigation.
Now Street is seeking to repair his image, making the case that he’s a cost-cutter and modernizer of county government.
Street’s legal issues and opposition to him from county employee unions helped spur advances at the treasurer’s office, he said.
“I don’t think we could get so far so fast without being attacked so viciously,” he said.
Street, who was elected treasurer in 2006 and has been under fire for an office renovation and his investment choices, points to a graph to make his case about enhanced efficiency at the treasurer’s office.
It shows Street will save the county more than $4 million from the treasurer’s budget from 2006 to the end of this fiscal year in June 2009.
The treasurer’s $2 million yearly budget, one of the smallest in the county, is made up of salaries and expenses for the roughly 100 employees who work for Street.
The graph shows a decrease in yearly money budgeted for the treasurer’s office,not actually what was spent,and how that differed from a year earlier.
Actual Savings
In terms of actual spending, the treasurer’s budget came in $2.9 million less for the 12 months through June versus the same period in 2006, when Street came into office. Add in forecasted savings for the current yearly budget, and the total is around $2 million.
Part of the savings was spurred by $1 million in added revenue to the treasurer’s office with a county change in accounting methods.
On Street’s urging, last year the county began crediting his budget with special assessment taxes that include things such as sewer and weed abatement fees.
Actual savings in the treasurer’s office came from reducing overtime through computer automation as well as nixing consultants costing $350,000 a year, Street said.
By adding extra scanners for recording tax payments, phone operators more efficiently handled calls by not having to send someone to retrieve files from folders, according to Deputy Treasurer Keith Rodenhuis.
“Managers didn’t want to stay late. It was a big cultural change,” he said.
Phone wait times have been cut by 85%, according to Street. And his office has collected 50% more in delinquent taxes, he said.
The office got software to handle the $5 billion in tax payments it processes yearly.
Street decided he could rent out the software system to other counties when he was not using it during tax crunch time.
Street said his office also is taking on payment processing for other county agencies.
Half of Street’s job entails handling the county’s $6 billion investment portfolio, and the other half is collecting taxes.
He’s been surrounded by controversy since becoming treasurer, including for a $1 million office remodeling that included a break room with chairs and sofa, kitchen sink, dishwasher, a GE Monogram refrigerator and microwaves, and other items.
Street was accused of splitting up contracts for the work, allegedly to avoid a bidding process. In August he was cleared of wrongdoing by the county district attorney’s office.
Street also was cleared of wrongdoing in his tending to legal issues associated with his prior job while on the clock at the county.
He still faces a civil suit for misuse of funds in his former role as trustee of the pen-
sion fund for bankrupt truck trailer company Fruehauf Corp.
Street’s accused of paying himself $2 million from the pension fund to travel to South America, buy wheels and a stereo for a company car, have plastic surgery and pay a speeding ticket.
Street recently sold his house to pay $1 million in legal fees related to the litigation.
He declined to talk about the details of the lawsuit but said he believed the outcome would “be very positive for me.”
As country treasurer, Street also has come under fire for an $80 million investment into Whistlejacket Capital Ltd., a British fund that has fallen under pressure.
Earlier this year, it was reported that a British court ruled that 75 other investors in Whistlejacket were in line to get their money out before the county.
Street says he isn’t worried about getting the money back. Whistlejacket is believed to have about $6.5 billion in assets, he said.
“We’re equal to all senior creditors,” he said. “There’s no line to get our money back.”
As for savings in the treasurer’s budget, county supervisor and former treasurer John Moorlach said he hasn’t looked into Street’s figures enough to know how legitimate his savings have been.
“Chriss has a way of telling you some information, but not everything,” he said.
Moorlach has been critical of Street and has called for his resignation.
In 1995, Moorlach took over the treasurer’s office from Robert Citron, who bankrupted the county.
Moorlach said he questions Street’s claims of bringing the budget down so dramatically after having done the job himself for more than a decade.
A longtime friend of Street’s, Moorlach said he thinks he would be better off with a job outside of public service.
“I’m not here to criticize Chriss,” he said. “I still like him. He has an incredible career and talents.”
As for running for re-election, Street declined to answer but hinted of his interest.
“I love this job,” he said. “If you’ve learned anything from me in the last year and a half, I’m very tenacious.”
