Republican candidate for State Treasurer Kurt Schuller has been campaigning on a platform of working to do away with the office if he’s elected. Democratic incumbent Dawn Marie Sass is arguing the move wouldn’t actually save the state any money though.
Sass says the duties of her office would still need to be carried out, which would likely require an administrator to fill her position. She says such officials typically make over $100,000 a year, while Sass makes a salary of about $65,000.
Schuller says the job duties could be rolled into other departments to save money.
Sass also argues that getting rid of the office would make it harder to find unclaimed property, an effort she has promoted heavily during her four years in office.
Currently, money and other items are turned over to the state Treasury after they’ve been left unclaimed for a long period of time in bank accounts or safe deposit boxes. Sass has worked to get listings of those items out to the public and promoted a database that helps people determine if the state has something that belongs to them.
Last year, Sass returned $27-million worth of property to Wisconsinites. So far this year, that’s up to $24 million.