Chris Lauzen: 2026 candidate for Kane County treasurer

Bio

Office sought: Kane County treasurer

Party: Republican

City: Aurora

Age: 73

Previous offices held: Current Kane County Treasurer; Kane County Board Chairman; Illinois State Senate

Q&A

Why are you running for this office? Is there a particular issue that motivates you?

The promises I made when I was elected Treasurer have been kept, and expectations exceeded. County interest income has been increased from roughly $2M budgeted (2023) to more than $20M annually. We sympathetically and effectively collect $1.7 Billion in annual property taxes, without incident. We saved taxpayers over $600,000 by replacing the county’s operating bank contract that hadn’t gone out for competitive bid for 22 years.

Every result is backed by audited financial statements anyone can review. Monthly accounting of investments, income, and collections are completely transparent because they’re reconciled to the penny and published monthly on County website under Finance Committee Reports.

I am running for a final term as Treasurer to complete this work and to manage an important transition. Four members of our staff, with a combined 113 years of experience, will be retiring soon. Their replacements must be recruited, trained, and brought to full speed to ensure continuity and reliability in this office.

This is not an easy task. The consequences of failure would be crippling to county operations. I have the proven experience, systems, and discipline.

If you are an incumbent, describe your main contributions. Tell us of any important initiatives you've led. If you are a challenger, what would you bring to the position and what would your priority be?

1. Maintain Record-Setting, National Award-Winning Returns on County Investments

Through disciplined investment strategies, the Treasurer’s Office has already earned tens of millions more than projected in interest income, strengthening county finances without mandatory increases in the tax burden on families.

Strong reserves that were built while I served as elected County Board Chairman helped keep county property taxes stable and protected the county during economic uncertainty.

2. Improve Services for Taxpayers

Sympathetically and effectively collect $1.7B from 199,000+ property taxpayers and distribute those funds to 270 local taxing districts.

As Treasurer, I support best practices that: Return unclaimed property, Maximize taxpayer exemptions, Reduce financial losses from vacant properties, and Promote financial literacy.

3. Serve as Spending Watchdog

Taxpayers deserve to know where their money goes and how it is managed.

As Treasurer, I work to ensure transparency, accountability, and clear reporting so residents can trust that funds are handled properly and distributed accurately.

Like the majority of the citizens I serve, I am firmly “anti-tax-increases.”

What special qualifications does a county treasurer need that may not apply to other county offices? What professional qualifications or experiences do you possess that will help ensure your success as treasurer?

There are not “special” qualifications to do this job, but merely “prerequisite” ones. My opponent is not a tested, certified accountant (CPA) but will be required to manage, train and potentially replace a CPA if she loses her.

She has never managed a cent of other people’s money, yet in the Treasurer’s Office the responsibility if anything goes wrong is more than $320,000,000 (millions) and collection/distribution of $1,700,000,000 (billion) in property taxes. Look at the disaster experienced in Cook County when something as mundane as the bills going out on time is failed.

According to two Freedom of Information responses, my opponent has lost to turnover (left or quit) 15+ employees from her staff of only six in her two terms as auditor. If just a small fraction of that were to occur in Treasury under her management, it would be unrecoverable for the County.

I am a tested, certified public accountant (CPA), have generated $20M annual interest income each year during this term as your Treasurer, have collected 99.97% of property taxes due each year, and successfully hired-through-testing several excellent CPA’s during my accounting and tax career.

Name one concrete program you’ll create or personnel move you’ll make to improve efficiency in the office or make it more successful. Explain how it will be funded and how you will overcome any obstacles to initiating it.

Maintain Award-winning Banking Relationships

Incredibly, the supermajority-controlled Kane County Board allowed the Treasurer’s Office to make less than one-half of one penny (.0043) per year in interest income on the quarter of a billion dollars that I had left in bank balances after my two effective terms as Board Chairman.

Yes, interest rates were lower, however the ruling supermajority did nothing about a County staff member buying lower-paying tax-free municipal bonds when we don’t pay taxes as a government; at the “trough” of low interest rates, they locked us in to low rates by buying longer-term (3-4 year maturity) bonds; and, allowed three brokerage firms to pluck us for commissions and executions like a Christmas goose under the “suitability” standards in state statutes.

Instead, I immediately initiated a Request for Proposals (RFP) to replace these brokers with expert specialists who manage investments under the much higher “fiduciary” standard and charge a flat fee of 1/10 of one penny per year.

The results have been record-setting, national award-winning, ten-fold improvements, totaling $80,000,000 more cumulative interest income for County taxpayers.