County treasurer faces GOP challenger
The race for Franklin County treasurer pits Democrat Cheryl Brooks Sullivan, seeking reelection to a second term, against Republican Brandon Cross, who is running in his first election.
The winner in November won’t take office until September 2021, however. That’s when the new term for the county’s official cash manager — the person who collects property tax payments and other money, makes deposits and handles investments of public funds — takes effect under a provision in state law that ensures adequate time for property tax collections.
The county treasurer earns about $90,000 annually, a sum set in state law.
Sullivan cites improvements
Sullivan, 63, of Mifflin Township, worked in the real estate industry for decades before being elected treasurer. She has updated the technology used by the office and made other improvements since her election four year ago.
The treasurer's office expanded billing options using email. More than 10,000 taxpayers in the county now opt for electronic notices instead of mailed ones.
Sullivan said she also added an electronic portal outside the cashier’s window at her office to allow people to make payments using credit or debit cards.
“I’ve never seen the long lines on my floor that my predecessors saw,” she said.
Sullivan said the office also has increased its analysis of delinquencies and other information, working with other agencies to pinpoint problem areas and potentially offer help for residents who need it. Some residents, she said, had paid off their mortgages but were struggling with tax payments, leaving them in danger of losing their homes because of tax issues, not debt.
“It was a startling revelation of individuals who are already challenged with everything you can think of, but somehow they’ve managed to inherit a property or managed to pay off a property and were going to lose that,” Sullivan said. "As we’re learning more about these individuals; we’re finding what resources (can help them). … We’re being very intentional about trying to help these people put the picture back together again.”
The treasurer’s office also has tapped into the Six Sigma program at Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business. Each semester, students there study the operations of the treasurer’s office and develop ways to improve them.
“I always want to have some foundation, some proven or logical reason, why we change anything,” she said.
Sullivan’s first term also has been eventful in other ways. In 2019, she provided expedited consideration of relief from deadlines for property tax payments for government employees after federal budget issues left many without paychecks. This year, she extended midyear property tax payments to assist residents dealing with furloughs and other issues resulting from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
In addition, Sullivan is creating a retention-specialist position in the treasurer’s office to help residents dealing with the economic impact of the pandemic over the next couple of years.
“Even as we come out of COVID, the financial future of so many residents is still going to be a question,” she said. “I think this is something we’re going to be dealing with for at least a couple of more years, maybe longer.”
Cross aims to be 'spark for change'
Cross, 33, of Westerville, moved to the Columbus area more than a dozen years ago to attend Otterbein University, where he earned degrees in political science and religion. He said he had a goal of working in politics for about 20 years, then shifting careers into the pastorate.
“Faith has always been extremely important to me,” he said. “I truly want to do things for the better.”
Though a first-time candidate, Cross has worked on others’ campaigns. He has known since he was young that we wanted to serve in public office, with an eye now toward changing policies and systems that have stopped people from living up to their full potential, he said.
“I am a normal person who wishes to be a spark for change,” he wrote on his campaign website at https://www. cross4treasurer.com. “I want to empower each and every American to be the best that they can be.”
Cross said he is also running to restore integrity and honesty to public office, citing the arrest of four Toledo City Council members (all Democrats) on bribery charges over the summer and the unfolding federal bribery and racketeering prosecution of five people, including Republican state Rep. Larry Householder, a former House speaker, in connection with the passage of House Bill 6, which bailed out two northern Ohio nuclear-power plants owned by Energy Harbor, a former Firstenergy Corp. subsidiary.
“I’m serious about that,” Cross said. “I think we need more honest politicians, people who are going to do the right things.”
Being a first-time candidate and a Republican in heavily Democratic Franklin County brings challenges to begin with, but the coronavirus pandemic has made campaigning even more difficult.
Cross dealt with a bout of COVID-19 in July that lasted a couple of weeks. His tests are clear now, and he’s back at work, he said, but some effects linger.
Also during the summer, he was the victim of identity theft: Someone filed fraudulent tax documents in his name. Cross has pushed forward.
“You can’t control what happens to you, but you can control how you respond to it,” he said. “This is not the campaign or the year that I imagined it being.”
Among his immediate plans if elected, Cross said he would redesign the treasurer’s website to make it more user-friendly and provide much-needed updates (he pointed out one link on the site that ends in an error page, and another with information that doesn’t appear to have been updated since the previous treasurer was in office).
“My goal would be to improve the culture in the office,” he said. “I’m more mindful of personality types and trying to bring out the best in people.” mkovac@dispatch.com @Ohiocapitalblog