Butler County auditor's race clouded by indictments
Oct. 13—Indicted Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds is touting his past accomplishments and presumed innocence while his Democratic challenger points to his past public service experience and unquestioned integrity as they vie for the top fiscal officer position.
Reynolds is fighting to keep the job he has held for 14 years, despite also defending himself against four felony and two misdemeanor charges for bribery and using his office for personal gain. Democratic challenger Mike Dalesandro knows he has an uphill battle in the Nov. 8 election because Butler County is a Republican stronghold.
Reynolds stands accused of using his office to smooth the way for a senior living development on his father's property in West Chester Twp., among other allegations in the original charges — three felonies and two misdemeanors — a Butler County grand jury approved. The highest charge is a third-degree felony for bribery.
Then the grand jury indicted Reynolds on a third felony in July for allegedly asking Lakota Schools officials to use $750,000 of the unspent fees he routinely returns to taxing bodies each year for a golf academy at Four Bridges Golf Course where his family lives.
His trial was supposed to start in August and be well over by election day, but now the proceedings have been move to December. If he is found guilty on the felony charges he cannot serve in office.
Reynolds told the Journal-News in an email he hopes voters will consider he is innocent until proven guilty and reelect him based on his accomplishments.
"The charges against me are false and politically motivated. And, during the suspension proceeding, a special commission comprised of three judges determined that the allegations made against me do not involve the Auditor's office, thus permitting me to continue serving as Auditor," Reynolds said.
"If those judges saw evidence that I was not fit to serve as the county's top fiscal officer, they would have suspended me. I am continuing to ask the voters to not rush to judgment, be patient, and allow me due process."
The latest charge involving Lakota does directly relates to Reynolds' time in office and came after the three-judge panel convened by the Ohio Supreme Court made its recommendation. The Journal-News asked Reynolds to address this issue but he did not respond.
The panel found this:
"The Special Commission finds that Mr. Reynolds' actions, as set forth in the charges, are not sufficiently related to the performance and duties of his office so as to warrant suspension," the decision reads. "There is an insufficient nexus between the alleged acts in the Attorney General's request for suspension and the functionality of the Butler County Auditor's office."
Legal issues aside
Both men have experience as public servants. Dalesandro, a supply chain professional, moved his family to Oxford Twp. a year ago from Battle Ground, Wash. where he served as mayor and city council member for eight years. Reynolds, a certified public accountant, has been in office since 2008. He took over after former county auditor Kay Rogers was indicted in the Dynus scandal that started 18 years ago. She, former Butler County Commissioner Michael Fox and others went to federal prison.
Butler County is staunchly Republican — the last known Democrat to win a partisan countywide office was John Holcomb, who was elected prosecutor in 1998. Dalesandro is undaunted by the past political leanings of voters, he believes in this instance they will reach across the political divide.
"Unlike the current auditor I'm just someone who wants to serve and I have experience serving, I have experience in local government, I have experience in working through budgets and financial statements and all that's involved in running a fiscally responsible operation...," he said. "I want folks overall to know this is about serving them and it's about time that there's a focus on that. After having conversations in the community there's a lot of Republicans who are open to voting for me and will vote for me."
He said when he has had conversations with voters about values and his record and Reynolds' corruption indictments they are responsive.
"Folks are just tired of that you know, and I bring an outsider's view if you will to Butler County establishment politics. It's been the same folks for the most part for decades and how are we going to expect things to improve, especially now we've had two auditors back-to-back who have legal issues...," Dalesandro said. "Along with my experience I feel that voters have an opportunity here to send a message that we're going to support someone that cares about honest, open government and we really don't care what party he's from."
Touting past accomplishments
Reynolds wants people to remember all of the good things he has done while in office, like fighting the Ohio tax commissioner over a mandated 20% property value hike for nearly half the county's taxpayers. He just lost the fight. His office is working on the next steps, because the values for 2020 will have to be readjusted for some properties and taxpayers billed accordingly.
"My fight for fair values against the Tax Commissioner revealed concerning information for all of us. The law grants the Tax Commissioner 'wide discretion' to set property values," Reynolds said. "As a result, local County Auditors have limited authority over individual property values. I am advocating for a change in the law to allow more control at the local level."
Dalesandro said he understands why Reynolds fought the higher property values but he "went about it the wrong way." He said he would have gone the legislative route first.
"That would have been where to start because for me advocating is one thing, definitely advocating, pushing whether it's a legislative fix, whatever the case may be, advocating is advocating," Dalesandro said. "But it's a bit of a gamble if it doesn't work out the way you're hoping it will work out, where folks are now going to be hit with a larger property valuation which means higher taxes."
Reynolds isn't a stranger to trying to get legislative changes he and several other county auditors have been trying for years to get laws changed that would allow them to monitor gasoline quality. The auditor's office Weights and Measures Division is already required to check fuel quantity so it would be simple for them to also test gas quality for sentiment and other substances that taint gas and ruin vehicles. He hasn't dropped the effort.
"The oil and gas lobbyists are working hard to block our efforts to test fuel quality," Reynolds said. "Currently, 47 states test for fuel quality but not Ohio. I will continue to advocate for fuel quality testing."
He has also worked with the FBI to catch credit card skimmers at gas stations.
Reynolds said his office has increased transparency by posting expenditures online and all of the state audits have been clean, winning him Distinguished Auditor Auditor awards several times. He also says he has increased efficiencies in his office — when he took office there were 70-plus employees today there are 32 — enabling him to return $21.8 million to taxing bodies in excess fees.
"I overhauled the office by installing modern technology and hiring staff members who are committed to replacing outdated processes with time saving methods," he said. "I improved the office website to reduce the need to visit or call the office. The office is running better now than before with significantly less staff."
The state legislature sets the fee that county auditors collect from levy funds to pay for calculating and distributing real estate tax collections to local governments and much of the real estate operations of county auditor offices. If the fees exceed costs to administer the levies, the auditor is required to give a refund.
Dalesandro has obviously never been a county auditor before but has ideas for bettering the office by increasing outreach to the community if he wins.
"How can we better connect with the community, how can we better get out there because honestly you have to do that, you can't just sit back and say well we a website, we have an office," Dalesandro said. "You have to go where people are literally, so how can we better engage the people and make them feel this office and the folks working there are representing their best interests."
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