by Dave Baumeister, Minnehaha County correspondent
SIOUX FALLS – The coming of 2021 brought two major changes in Minnehaha County elected officials.
County Auditor Bob Litz retired from a position he held since 2011, after running the largest election in the county’s history last fall.
Pam Nelson decided not to run for re-election in 2020, capping off her 17 years as County Treasurer.
Since both of them comprised the “money-handling” arm of the county, their departure left a big hole in how Minnehaha County’s funds would be handled.
But their replacements, Ben Kyte and Kris Swanson, feel that with the outstanding staff members in those offices, they are up to the task.
Although these are both political jobs that anyone could run for and fill, despite their experience, Kyte has something that none of the other had upon coming to office, and that is almost 40 years of experience in the financial industry.
But because Kyte was appointed to fill the Auditor’s position, as Litz was retiring two years before the end of this term, county commissioners were looking to appoint someone with experience in the field, as opposed to using politics to fill the job.
With a 37-year career at Citibank in Sioux Falls, mostly as a senior financial officer, commissioners gave him the nod to begin on Jan. 2 and serve until a new auditor is elected in November 2022.
While people tend to associate the auditor’s job with election duties, Kyte says that makes up only about 20% of his job.
The main work of the auditor is just that, “to audit” – making sure the county’s budget is followed and money coming in goes where it should.
Kyte explained that he looks at his position as being the “chief financial officer” for the county.
When money comes into the treasurer’s office through taxes and various fees, it is sent over to the auditor’s office, where it is earmarked for a variety of places.
Some of those places are the budgets of the various county departments, but much of it goes out to the different Minnehaha municipalities and school districts.
And Kyte said this is where having a good relationship with the treasurer’s office becomes so important.
Swanson, who is a former teacher, nurse and business owner, cited her experience in Republican politics in the county as a main reason for her running.
She did run against Nelson and lost in 2016 but felt that she was very inexperienced in how to run a good campaign.
She felt she was much better prepared for that in her recent run.
But Swanson acknowledged her lack of financial knowledge when she points out how she relies on the expertise of her staff, as well as Kyte’s input.
As Nelson herself often pointed out in talking about the importance of keeping wait time down at the windows, Swanson's experience comes in her ability to work with people.
And Swanson and Kyte both say they want to be more than elected “figureheads.”
Being elected to those positions does not mean candidates are knowledgeable in those areas, it just means they can get votes.
As an example, so far, Swanson says she likes to spend her time working with others in her office to learn exactly what they do.
And even though Kyte has much more financial experience, he is quick to point out the differences between doing financial work for every taxpayer in the largest county in the state than working for the limited interests of a private company.
While Kyte can’t seem to say enough good things about the work of the auditor’s office staff, he does look at improvements he can make.
“I want to use my expertise to make the county more efficient,” he said.
Specifically, he added, he’d like to see the county adopt a system for ACH (Automated Clearing House) electronic payments with all vendors. Currently, business with vendors has to be done with physical paper checks.
And though not a change he would make, Kyte knows he will have to work on establishing new space for elections, as other county operations will be moving into their current election locations.
As for Swanson, while she isn’t planning on changes right now, she wants the staff to know how much she is there to support them, and she wants to keep learning as much as she can about the treasurer’s job.
Beyond the office, she hopes to get more kiosks added around the county so that people can more easily complete license plate renewals.
That is a task that takes up a lot of employee time and adds to wait time at the treasurer’s windows, but it is something that can easily be done in other places, thus eliminating the need for people to waste time waiting.
But only a month or so into their new jobs, both Kyte and Swanson readily point to how much of a “team effort” they see by all elected and appointed individuals when it comes to running the business of Minnehaha County.
