On Oct. 10, the members of the Cache County Council debated a change in the format of the county government that would separate the duties of the
Clerk/Auditor David Benson’s office and create an independent auditor’s post as of Jan. 6, 2025.
CACHE COUNTY – The members of the Cache County Council will likely vote on whether to create a new elective office in the county government at their next meeting on Oct. 24.
The proposed Cache County Ordinance 2023-35 would effectively dismember the office of the Clerk/Auditor David Benson, separating those responsibilities and adding a new elective post to the county government.
If approved, that change would take effect Jan. 6, 2025, after the next county election in November of 2024.
Benson, who has been carefully tiptoeing around the members of the council since his victory in a GOP special election in June, is all for the idea.
County Policy Analyst Micah Safsten explained the conditions specified by state codes that permit the county government to separate previously consolidated offices.
The offices of clerk and auditor were consolidated a decade ago under the leadership of former Clerk/Auditor Jill Zollinger.
State codes require that the county announce its intention to separate those functions by Nov. 1, a full year prior to the next county election.
That means that county council members have until the end of this month to initiate the proposed change or wait four years for the next window of opportunity
Some members of the county council have been advocating for separating the duties of clerk and auditor since shortly after the 2020 election. Despite vague protestations to the contrary, one of their primary motivations seems to be diluting the authority of County Executive David Zook.
Whatever their intent, Benson has fallen into line.
Although absent from the Oct. 10 meeting of the county council, a representative of Benson’s office read a prepared statement.
“The offices perform very different functions,” he acknowledged in that statement. “Although currently small enough to be managed by one elected official, it makes good financial and function sense to separate them out.”
Council member Karl B. Ward wasn’t so sure of that.
With typical caution about financial issues, Ward was the first council member to raise concerns about the cost of separating the responsibilities of county clerk and auditor, quickly followed by council members Sandi Goodlander and Kathryn A. Beus.
“I’m not saying that I’m opposed to this idea,” Ward said, “But there’s a lot we need to look at and think about under a tight timeline before we make a decision.”
Warded list some of those concerns as being the cost of the new auditor’s salary, what staff members would be required for that office and where they would be housed in the county’s Administration Building.
Goodlander questioned whether state codes require that the duties of clerk and auditor be separated when Cache County reaches a certain population threshold.
Safsten confirmed that population threshold was 175,000 county residents, adding that “we’re getting pretty close.”
Cache County’s population in 2020 was about 133,000, according to the U.S. Census. Recent growth estimates now suggest that the county’s population is about 140,000 as of 2023.
Beus suggested that it might be easier to find a really qualified person to fill the auditor’s position if it remained as a hired post, rather than an elective position.
But council chair David Erickson countered that the auditor’s role would most likely be filled by an responsible elective official, with a deputy “… who really knows what they are doing.”
“I didn’t say that,” said Amy Adams, the county’s human resources director.
“I did,” Erickson replied.
Without advocating for the separation the clerk/auditor duties, Safsten pointed out that a professional auditor or accountant might be more willing to run for an exclusive auditor post that is divorced from the responsibility of supervising elections.
Finally, the council members decided to table any action on proposed Ordinance 2023-35 until their next meeting on Oct. 24, where Adams will be expected to provide estimates of the pay scale possible for the new elective auditor’s position.