Faye Barton

You’re currently in your third term as Treasurer. What orginally made you want to run for office?
I’ve been Treasurer since 2000, yes. I was elected in ’99. I worked in the office with the two prior Treasurers. I was Chief Deputy for four years. So I’d already been through a lot of classes and experience. And I like Powhatan. I like the people of the county. I like serving the people. You’ve got to be a servant to work in this office.

Can you detail a little more the skills, experience and education that you bring to this position?
Sure, I can. I’ve taken extensive cash management classes for investments of the county money. I obtained my Master’s certification though the University of Virginia Weldon Cooper Center back in 2002. I am a member of the Treasurers Association of Virginia and also a member on the national level. I’m a member of the VALECO, which is the association of Virginia Association of Local Elected Constitutional Officers. I have helped training in other offices. I actually went to Goochland this year and helped them with the crisis they had. They all came to my board meeting. Their Chairman of the Board, their County Administrator and the Treasurer came to one of our board meetings in July and thanked me personally for helping them through this bad ordeal.

I’ve taken internal controls, accounting classes, customer service – all the classes needed by the Department of Taxation to handle people’s income taxes.  A lot of people think we just do personal property or real estate, but we do a whole lot more. We do a lot of state work. 85 percent of my salary is paid by the state. It’s not all paid by the county [. . . ]

I worked 12 years at an insurance company prior to coming here, two years at doctors’ offices and hospitals on collecting medical claims. I have a good 14 years customer service experience before coming here. When I came here I saw a need to put something in place to collect delinquent taxes. We have a statute of limitation law . . .  and I don’t like to see any money written off if it can be collected . . . But that’s this job. This job is collections more than anything else. And collections is not an easy job for anybody.
Anybody else who’s coming into this job as Treasurer is going to be a cost to the county. In order to get that Master’s certification you have to go through eight courses and exams and it’s all under the county’s cost.

How long have you lived in Powhatan?
I was born and raised in Goochland. So I know all about country life. I mean, we are growing, yes, we’re in the high 20-some-thousand, I think .But we’re still a long ways from Chesterfield. Chesterfield is huge, and a lot of times we get compared to that, but we’re no Chesterfield yet. I moved here in ’83. I’ve been serving in office 19 years.

What are some of the issues you see facing the department in the coming years?
Well, I know budgets are tighter than ever before . . . and I have turned in money of my budget every single year. I have had a 35 percent decrease in my operating budget since 2006. I also forfeited my part-time position. I know a lot of people are upset about money being spent, but I can say this office, being a constitutional office, we work on a very strict budget. My budget last year was only $40,000-some dollars for operating expenses – that doesn’t include salaries.

And we took on more work from the state. They passed that new dog law that went in place two years ago. And this is expensive work to this county, to follow up all these letters to people that have gotten their rabies shots, but have refused to get their tag from the county.

Is there anything specific you’d like to accomplish in another term as Treasurer?
Well, I have updated this technology thing as greatly as I can. We’re online, people love it, they can sit in their chair at home and pay their taxes, look up their bill, print every document they need to file their taxes. I’ve had so many people come to me that do title searches for companies and say “I love it. I don’t have to come to your office and have you look it up or look in the books anymore.” Any more technology that I add to this . . . I think at this point, if we can find a way that our budget is not so tight, that every dime that comes in goes back out . . .

Right now it’s very hard to invest money.  And we’re held by state code and county ordinances. The state won’t allow us to put money in stocks or bonds. We can only put it in banks, and they have to be secured banks. So I invest our money the best possible way I can, but I have to keep a compensating balance, because I never know when that next expense [might crop up] . . .  This game, if you can call it that, is constantly looking at revenue coming in, and recording expenses going out. And this is a daily function – not weekly, not monthly. It is a daily function to make sure that if you do have money in investments you’ve got to have it in something you can move it quick.

Paul Escobar

What made you decide to run for Treasurer?
Well, the county over the past 20 years has seen an explosive growth in population. All studies indicate that this growth will continue. In fact, they expect the county to grow another 70 percent in the next 20 years. The county is changing rapidly. With that increased population comes, of course, increased revenues and increased services funded by that revenue. I believe I have the right background and years of experience and formal education that would best be suited by being the Treasurer of Powhatan County.

Can you elaborate a little bit on this education and experience?
I have a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration. I also worked for 30+ years in private industry – primarily in the broadcast industry, broadcast and newspapers. My last position was VP of finance for Jefferson-Pilot Communications, which owns Channel 12 here in town. They also owned, at the time, several other TV stations and 18 radio stations – and I was Vice President of Finance for the company. So I have a wide and varied experience, both in business and in broadcasting.

How long have you lived in the county?
My wife and I moved here in 1993, so we’ve been here 18 years. We own Saddlebrook Stables on Rocky Ford Road, a horse boarding facility, which is wife’s primary pursuit.

Are there any big issues that you foresee facing the Treasurer in the next four years?
Primarily, the concern is the growth of the county. It’s one of the rapidly growing counties in the state. And with that, of course, comes increased revenue, increased expenses, increased problems, and increased decisions. And I think that’s the biggest problem facing the county the today – how to manage growth. I mean, where do you draw the line? How do you want the county to look in the next 20 years?  . . . We need professionalism. We need people who have the experience to help this county move in the right direction.

Is there anything specific you’d like to accomplish in a four-year term as Treasurer?
The first thing I’d like to do – again I have a lot of background in internal auditing, Sarbanes-Oxley regulations, and best practices regulations – is to make sure all the proper procedures in the Treasurer’s Office are being followed, all the best practices are being followed, that things are done in accordance with Sarbanes-Oxley, that there’s no mismanagement and everything is running smoothly, and as well as possible with the current staff that’s there. So that’s my first job . . . I’d also like to foster open communication between all the departments in the county – whether that be the Commissioner of Revenue, whether that be the Supervisors, whether that be the county administration. I want to make sure there is absolutely an open slate, that everyone can see what we’re doing, and that we’re all on the same mission plan and have the same goal in mind.

I’d also like to consider staggering the hours that the Treasury Department is open. As I meet people around the county, both businesses and door-to-door, people tell me “I want to come in and talk to someone, I want to come in and pay my taxes, but I work 9-5 and you’re open 9-5.” There’s not that opportunity to do that. So I’d like to see if we can stagger the hours, especially during tax collection season. Have some people in the department come in early, some people come in late . . .

I also want to make sure that whether you’re a Powhatan native – you’ve been here forever, your parents have been here forever – or whether you’re new to Powhatan, that there’s an open communication and that all people get the same courteous, prompt service from the Treasurer’s Department.