Two Republicans, but so far no Democrats are campaigning to replace State Auditor Rob Sand, who’s running for governor.
Republican candidate Abigail Maas, who’s from South Amana, said for many years she’s considered being state auditor as “my dream job.”
“I am a numbers girl. I am very well versed in our property tax system and I see a lot of fraud, waste and abuse that’s occurring there, so I’m super passionate about finding that and I have the experience to do so,” Maas said, “so I decided to put my name in the hat.”
Maas owns a flooring store and a horse boarding facility. She was elected to the Iowa County Board of Supervisors in 2020. During an interview at the Clay County Fair, Maas said every local government that collects and spends property taxes should be audited every year — and the state law that lets smaller cities and towns escape annual audits should be changed.
“Right now some of them are as few as one out of every eight years in their frequency to be audited,” Maas said, “and I think we have to look at the past trends and where we’re finding the fraud, waste, and abuse in the city level. It’s cities less than 2000 in population because nobody’s coming to look at their books every single year.”
According to Maas, 1600 townships in Iowa will get $46 million in property taxes this year and she said all those townships should be audited yearly, too. Township trustees have responsibility in rural areas of the state for emergency services, cemetery maintenance and resolving disputes over fence lines.
Iowa Lieutenant Governor Chris Cournoyer, a Republican from LeClaire, is also running for state auditor. She announced her campaign in May.
(Reporting by Ed Funston, KILR, Estherville)