Treasurer will now have more time for grandkids

    Cindy Schoenberger has been the Chase County Treasurer for 14 years, and will be retiring after this term ends in January.
    Schoenberger started in the office in 2003 as office help, then was promoted to Deputy Treasurer, then was appointed to Treasurer in 2008.
    She went on the ballot unopposed in 2010 and was elected County Treasurer, where she has remained until her upcoming retirement.
    Schoenberger will be succeeded by her deputy, Rebecca Bernard, who advanced from the Primary and was unopposed in the General Election.
    Prior to 2003, when she started with Chase County, Schoenberger lived in Trenton, and worked as Deputy Assessor in Hitchcock County for 15 years, she said.
    “I have enjoyed the job, the various paperwork and working with the customers,” she said.
    “As treasurer, the day-to-day is accounting somewhat, but the nature of government proceedings is a bigger part,” she said.
    All of the revenues taken in by the County Treasurer, such as property taxes, Department of Motor Vehicle and driver license fees, go to an account. Then they are allocated to the various county or state recipients, such as State of Nebraska highway allocation, Homestead Exemption, individual school districts, fire districts and others, she said.
    County Treasurers periodically are notified of changes in reports and regulations from the Departments of Revenue and Motor Vehicles. Sometimes that information is disseminated to them in workshops.
    “We are required to accrue eight credit hours of ongoing training for an annual certification,” she said.
    Schoenberger said in the years she’s worked in the Treasurer’s office, there have been some changes in areas of responsibility.
    For example, concerning motor vehicle issues, the County Clerk used to do titles, the County Assessor would value the vehicle, then type up the registration. From there, the County Treasurer would issue the license plates and collect the fees.
    “Now all that is done by the Treasurer, which was good streamlining for the customers and the county offices,” she said.
    Schoenberger and her husband Ron live in Enders and own Laker’s Bait and Tackle near Enders Reservoir.
    She said they have built the business into more than night crawlers and rods and reels. Laker’s also has groceries, beer, liquor and ammunition during hunting seasons.
    “I will be able to work in the store more now and have more time to visit grandkids in Omaha and Shawnee Mission, Kansas,” she said.