Porter County
Auditor Vicki Urbanik is announcing that she will seek re-election to a
second term.
“It has been a
tremendous honor for me to serve as Porter County Auditor, and I take my
responsibilities to the taxpayers very seriously,” Urbanik said in a
statement released this week. “As I pledged to do when first elected, I have
served as a full-time county auditor, placing top emphasis on ethics,
accountability, and transparency as the county’s chief accountant.”
According to the
statement, Urbanik, a Democrat, is one of the few county auditors in Indiana
who is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). In addition, she holds the
credentials of Certified Government Financial Manager, Enrolled Agent, and
Level II assessor-appraiser.
Urbanik said her
first-term accomplishments include:
* Saving taxpayers
more than $250,000 each year by eliminating contracts and taking on more
work in-house.
* Bringing the
County Auditor’s Office into the 21st century with major upgrades in the
county’s financial, payroll, and excise tax systems.
* Returning more
than $480,000 to the county general fund over the first three years in
office through the auditor’s in-house homestead compliance program.
* Making public
outreach a priority by updating the auditor webpage, hosting “Coffee with
the Clerks” with local officials, authoring taxpayer-friendly brochures, and
sponsoring an annual “Saving Money” art contest.
* Conducting a
five-year research project to identify disabled veterans who might qualify
for a tax deduction under a revised state law.
* Consistently
completing projects on a timely basis. One example is the most recent
settlement, which was the earliest December tax distribution to local
government units in at least 10 years.
* Improving
internal controls over federal grant accounting and payroll processes.
Urbanik is in her
second year as an officer with the Indiana Auditors Association, currently
serving as the association’s treasurer. Prior to her election as Porter
County Auditor, Urbanik was the Porter County Council’s Budget and Finance
deputy and served on the Porter County Property Tax Assessment Board of
Appeals.