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Name: Liliana Orozco
Age: 30
Town: Sycamore
Office sought: County Treasurer
Occupation: Production Planner
Education: B.S. Industrial Engineering, Milwaukee School of Engineering; M.S. Supply Chain Management & Logistics (Currently), Michigan State University
Elected offices held: No previous offices held
Party: Democratic
Website www.orozcofortreasurer.com
Social Media: FB: VoteLiliana Twitter: @VoteLiliana Instagram: VoteLiliana
Questions
1. Why are you the best person for this job?
I have experience that is unique. I bring a different perspective to the position. My educational background is in industrial engineering and supply chain management. Since graduation, I have worked in assembly and manufacturing environments with both union and non-union employees. I am qualified to dissect processes and cutout steps that do not add value. I will ensure processes and services offered by the office are working cohesively together. I have trained in planning, continuous improvement, and quality. Planning takes coordination, anticipation, analysis, and foresight.Continuous improvement focuses on a constant re-evaluation of how we are doing our work. In quality, I protected the voice of the customer. I approved or rejected product based on their specifications. I will use this experience to protect the best interests of the residents of the county with passion, drive, and objectivity.
2. What can be done to make the treasurer’s office more efficient?
In general, all work can be improved and made more efficient. We can work to reduce processing time, make online payments user-friendly, and provide taxpayers with greater detail on their property tax bills. Furthermore, I will perform evaluations of our service procedures to ensure we eliminate redundancy, if any. This will allow the office employees to focus their valuable time on the tasks which lead to maximizing efficiency.
3. What is your strategy for investing public funds?
The main objective is to protect and grow the public funds. Per the county website, the county’s “investment objectives are safety of principal, liquidity, and maximum rate of return”. Once in office, I will evaluate current process and perform analyses to determine where we can improve to meet our county’s objectives.
4. How can the treasurer’s office help the county manage the cost of employee pension funds?
The county treasurer does not manage the cost of employee pension funds, this is a function of the county finance department per the county website.
5. The county recently had to repay grant money that the state found was improperly spent. Can the treasurer’s office prevent this in the future? How?
There are honest people working in the treasurer’s office. Nevertheless, unintentional mistakes can be made which cause situations such as these. Typically in situations such as these there may have been details that were ambiguous. We can mitigate risk by requesting clarification the requirements specified by the grant funds. We may need to consult and partner with an experienced law firm or grant specialist to ensure we are meeting the requirements of the grant. We will educate the office team and affected departments to be on the same page.
6. Can more be done to help seniors and others who may qualify for property tax benefits take advantage of them?
For homeowners, the Chief County Assessment Office has various exemptions used towards assessed property values.These can be used to reduce tax liabilities, including but not limited to the senior assessment freeze homestead, if you qualify. We’ll have to look into ways to promote this information and determine what additional benefits we are able to identify for the residents of our county where possible.