Galveston County Treasurer's Office Eliminated
Last week, Texas voters made the decision to allow Galveston County to eliminate its treasurer's office, becoming the 10th county in the state to operate without such an office.
Hank Dugie, the 34-year-old Republican who was elected as Galveston County Treasurer last year, expressed no concerns about losing his job as his time in office comes to an end. In fact, Dugie actively campaigned for the elimination of the four-year office, which he considered a challenging effort to get on the statewide ballot.
The office, which originally had a staff of seven, is now being run by a team of three. Dugie, who declined the position's $117,260 salary, played a significant role in reducing the staff size.
After commencing his campaign in 2022, Dugie expressed his desire to eliminate the office, citing the county's previous struggles with an absent treasurer. He specifically referred to his predecessor Kevin Walsh, who had served as the Galveston County Treasurer since 2002.
"Having served on the Lake City Council and being involved in local government, I witnessed the financial issues and the presence of absent elected officials," Dugie explained. "The previous treasurer only showed up once a month for about two hours and was still collecting a six-figure salary."
While the elimination of the office was approved by voters, Dugie faced criticism from some treasurers in neighboring counties.
Karrie Crownover, the Treasurer of Burnet County, disagreed with the idea, arguing that removing the office sets a "dangerous precedent."
"By eliminating an elected office, you are diminishing the voice of the people who elected that individual to serve," Crownover stated. "If we start abolishing offices, which county will be targeted next?"
Crownover further contended that the removal of the office would ultimately increase costs for taxpayers. She claimed that outsourcing employees to handle the treasurer's responsibilities would be more expensive. Burnet County is located northwest of Austin in the Texas Hill Country.
Dugie defended his decision to cut the office and stated that the remaining employees will still carry out many of the tasks, while others will be assigned to different county workers.
"The only opposition we've faced is from other county treasurers in the state who are concerned that their privileges will be next," Dugie said.
Dugie also clarified that he is not suggesting other counties should follow Galveston's lead.
"We have had an absent treasurer for at least 30 years, and this decision only affects our county. If other counties want to do the same, they will have to go through the same difficult process we did," he explained.
Bexar County, which is home to San Antonio, was the most recent county to eliminate the treasurer's office. The responsibilities of the treasurer's office were absorbed by the County Clerk's office in 1983.
Reno Madrigal, the chief of the treasury and judicial courts division in Bexar County, acknowledged that eliminating the office posed challenges in consolidating its functions and redistributing its tasks.
"But we are not in need of a county treasurer," Madrigal stated. "The county clerk's office works well with the county auditor and the budget and finance office. We have been functioning without an elected treasurer for almost 30 years, and I believe we will continue to do so successfully."
