Florence County Treasurer Dean Fowler Jr., a Republican, this fall will face a challenger in former Florence County Tax Assessor Leval Williams, a Democrat.
Fowler said that in his two terms, he’s removed “suspicions” that surrounded the treasurer’s office and restored public trust by running the office as a business.
“We made promises to the public — we felt like not only were they promises, but they were commitments — that we would develop one of the best-run treasurer’s offices in the state of South Carolina,” Fowler said.
Williams, who on March 14 was fired as tax assessor, didn’t respond by press time to repeated phone messages from the Morning News seeking an interview for this story.
Florence County documents state that Williams was fired after directing a contractor to change the dates on 360 property tax notices, which removed late penalties from the notices.
Documents from Williams’ personnel file, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Morning News, also show Williams had been suspended from Feb. 29 until the day before his termination. He also had been suspended and recommended for termination in 2005.
“It’s very difficult for me to think about running against an individual who was put out of office for poor management. ... The treasurer’s office is an office that requires integrity and honor and trust, and I believe that we have given that to the people over the last seven years that I’ve been in office,” Fowler said.
Fowler said his office handles about $300 million of public money a year for the county as well as its school districts.
When he entered office, he cross-trained employees in the treasurer’s and delinquent tax offices, which “weren’t even speaking to one another” at the time, Fowler said.
He estimates that since elected, he’s saved more than $900,000 in the office’s budget.
He also said he must monitor closely the county’s money, investing it until the county can draw the highest return.
“A treasurer has to have experience, he has to have leadership, (and) he has to have good management skills, and all of those are things that I developed over a 30-year period in upper-level management with corporations,” Fowler said.
Fowler has worked in management with 3M and Dixie Electronics, he said. He worked as vice president of sales and marketing with Knoxville, Tenn.-based Best Reception Systems before returning to Florence for a marketing position at McLeod Regional Medical Center, he said.
Fowler also was chosen earlier this year to serve his fourth term as president of the S.C. Association of Countywide Elected Executives.
“When you’ve done what we’ve done, and given to the community what we’ve given to them, and given them an office that they can trust and is responsible with their money ... we feel good,” Fowler said.
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