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GallowayCollensTOPsunsetREVISED2016 blumz07Candidate Interview Oakland County Treasurer Andy Meisner (video)
(Crystal A. Proxmire, June 10, 2016)
 
Huntington Woods, MI – Democratic Oakland County Treasurer Andy Meisner is seeking re-election on the Nov. 8, 2016 ballot.  He was first elected to the position in 2012.  Republican John P. McCulloch is running against him.
Meisner talked about what first got him interested in being Treasurer, saying “One of the biggest reasons that I ran for County Treasurer is that the foreclosure crisis was right at our doorstep and it was very evident that we were falling into a housing and financial crisis like we had not seen in, like, SaharaNEW02maybe forever. And I was concerned about how Oakland County was positioned to handle that crisis.
“I knew that there were county treasurers like Dan Kildee, Catherine McClary from Washtenaw County, Kildee being from Genesee, who are taking a very aggressive posture fighting foreclosure. Not just property tax for closure, but mortgage foreclosure as well. Because anytime there’s a mortgage foreclosure, and there were tens of thousands of them in Oakland County during the crisis, that zaps our property values. And it reduces our taxable value. It hurts our tax base, and it hurts financially. So even if we are the ones paying our bills on time, we still have a vested interest in preventing foreclosure. So that was one of the big reasons I ran for office. We’ve turned the corner but we still have to be vigilant.”
In his interview with oc115, Meisner talked about other aspects of his work as County Treasurer, including maintaining the County’s AAA bond rating, working with local banks and credit unions, tearing down blighted homes, and using land bank practices to spur development in neighborhoods.  He is also proud of working with 14,000 homeowners that were behind on taxes to set up payment plans that have collected over $70 million.

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Learn more about this candidate’s campaign at: http://www.andymeisner.com/.
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