Catherine Smith is running unopposed for another term as Monroe County treasurer in the 2024 general election.
Smith’s current term began Jan. 20 when she was selected and sworn in at a Democratic vacancy caucus, which was held to fill the seat left by Jessica McClellan’s departure for the City of Bloomington controller. Smith served two prior terms as county treasurer from 2009 through 2016, when she hit the consecutive term limit.
Smith said she began her career in local government in January 2000, with a four-year term as Monroe County’s chief deputy auditor. After her first eight-year tenure as treasurer, Smith ran for county auditor in 2016 and served in the position until the Jan. 20 caucus.
Although she has over 20 years of experience and later earned an MBA in financial management from Wake Forest University, Smith said she is an engineer by trade. Smith and her husband had been moving back and forth between Indiana and the Carolinas for some time, planning to ultimately settle in the south, when the freshly elected Monroe County auditor at the time, Sandy Newmann, asked for her help. Smith accepted a job as her chief deputy officer in 2000. It was intended to be a short-term commitment.
“I love it all. I even like calculus. I’m weird,” Smith said. “I kind of fell in love with the complexity of it.”
Smith said she watched the work evolve with time, even helping develop some of the software that moved it away from hand calculations. Smith calls her work an exercise in economic engineering.
“We engineer the county,” Smith said. “We pick what we want the outcomes to be, like a new convention center, and [think], well, how will that economically affect this county?”
According to the Indiana State Board of Accounts, the treasurer is the “custodian of all money belonging to the county.” The treasurer is responsible for collecting taxes and assessments for the county and keeps records of the county’s accounts and expenditures.
Smith considers her frugality a strength in the job. She said she watches things closely and spends the county’s money sparingly and at the highest interest rates she can find; she also tries to make sure the county doesn’t collect more taxes than are owed. Although she is a Democrat, she said she works well with the Republicans around her; she doesn’t think the auditor and treasurer’s office should be run politically, anyway.
Smith said she also feels she has a mission to make taxes “a kinder, gentler world.” The first time Smith was treasurer, she petitioned state legislators to write a bill to allow the treasurer to make property tax payment plans, which eventually passed in 2010. The law allows the county treasurer to make an agreement with delinquent taxpayers to help them avoid losing their homes. Smith said payment plans can help people who are sick or dying by taking some of the financial pressure off.
She said one of her favorite parts of the job is walking people through their taxes. She said she knows taxes can be confusing, but she enjoys working on taxes with county residents.
“I like working with people; I like explaining their taxes, which would sound boring to anybody else, and I'm a chit chatter, and I love Monroe County,” Smith said. “I have a very big heart for Monroe County.”
Smith’s office can be reached at treasurer@co.monroe.in.us or (812) 349-2530. She said constituents and taxpayers are also always welcome to call her directly at (812) 360-2338.
