By Ashley McCarty-
In the Defender’s initial edition of “Unsung Heroes,” we peer into the complicated yet often unrecognized role of a school treasurer with Adams County Ohio Valley School District Treasurer Brian Switzer.
Switzer, of Clermont County, graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelor’s Degree in accounting in 1984, taking both the Becker Certified Public Accountant course and the Certified Public Accountant exam.
In January of 1986, Switzer began working at the Auditor of State’s office, staying there until January 1997. During that time, he worked under Ohio Auditors Thomas E. Ferguson and Jim Petro as a Certified Fraud Examiner and a Certified Government Finance Manager.
In 1997, Switzer jumped the fence from auditing schools to becoming the school treasurer at Clermont Northwestern until his retirement from the facility in 2015.
“In December of 2015 I had already reached retirement age, my children were in college. I didn’t want them coming out of college buried to their neck in debt, so I discussed with my board that I worked for then about doing a retire rehire. They weren’t really receptive of that, so I just plain retired from them,” said Switzer. That same year, he saw the position advertisement for ACOVSD and applied.
Being the school treasurer for a district as large as ACOVSD is quite an undertaking, however; not only is the treasurer the chief financial officer for the district, advising the board on all financial activity, the treasurer’s office also processes the payroll and benefits for over 700 employees; processes and pays the bills for the 10 buildings the district owns; and the fuel, parts, and equipment for the operation of a 55-bus fleet.
The role of a school treasurer, while not particularly illuminated in society, is an important, supportive profession.
“Very important. We have all kinds of state and federal compliance issues, depending on what kind of money we’re dealing with for which different programs,” said Switzer. All of their operations are audited each year by the State Auditor’s Office, the Department of Education and the Federal Medicaid Department.
“No two days are ever the same in the role of a school treasurer. One day you could be negotiating a labor contract with a union, the next day you could be attending a professional seminar on state budget cuts, the next be in a grievance because somebody could be upset with the way something was handled, or you have an irate parent wanting to know why something happened with their child. Now with the time of COVID-19, it’s just opened up that many more issues that you have to deal with. Children sickness, employee sickness, instruction either in the building or at home. It’s exciting, because no two days are the same,” said Switzer.
In any given week, Switzer works anywhere from 40 to 60 hours in this salaried position.
“You stay until the job is done. Some weeks you can get 40 hours. At the time of doing budgets, or negotiations, or board meeting weeks, sometimes you’re here 60 hours. It’s just something you have to enjoy. After all, we’re here for the kids. Everybody gets a paycheck, but if you’re not here for the children, you’re not going to have fun or be successful in this career,” said Switzer.
In his spare time, Switzer’s love of numbers follows him into multiple avenues of his life. Four to eight hours a week, he is the clerk for his village, doing a similar job to keep the village operating.
“It’s a small village, though, we have eight employees. A police chief, a maintenance man, a mayor’s court clerk, and the five village council members. So, when you go in to pay their bills, you’re doing 25 checks a month,” said Switzer.
If that doesn’t keep him busy enough, he is also an account bookkeeper for local antique auctioneers.
“I like antiques and collectibles; I’m an accountant bookkeeper for some local auctioneers. When they have auctions, I do their bookkeeping. So, I’m always cranking numbers some place,” said Switzer, laughing.
To Switzer, he owes his success as a school treasurer to his staff.
“A treasurer cannot be successful if they do not have support staff. I have six women who work here for me in the office. They all have to be really motivated, because they do the bulk of the work. If they aren’t good and successful, the treasurer won’t be good and successful. We have between 3500 and 4000 kids, and actually, the size of our office is small if you compare it to similar sized schools in the state of Ohio. All of my ladies work way more than 40 hours a week. Again, it’s the love of the kids,” said Switzer.
His commendable office staff include: Marybeth Louderback, April Stapleton, Sherri Spencer, Noelle Kell, Vicki Fritz, and Connie Lykins.
“We are here to support the staff and operations to keep the district running. We are the custodian of the taxpayers money. We appreciate the support of our community for the kids of Adams County,” said Switzer.
