Revenue commissioner race tops local ballot

By: Amy Weaver Staff Writer | Opelika Auburn News
Published: October 30, 2008

Both candidates for Lee County revenue commissioner say they want to make the office more convenient for county residents.

Republican Oline W. Price, 49, said that’s what she’s been doing since she became the county’s first revenue commissioner six years ago.

In that time, she said she’s made a one-stop registration system for motor vehicles and manufactured homes, opened a satellite revenue office in Smiths Station and offered a Web site for residents to pay property taxes and renew vehicle and manufactured home registrations on-line.

A satellite office in Auburn is currently under construction, Price said.

“I want everyone in this county to feel like they get their money’s worth (from this office),” Price said.

Democratic challenger Bettye M. King, 45, said the office could do more.

“This is an opportunity for change,” King said. “We have a chance to modify our revenue system that is operating, but not at an optimal level.”

County Administrator Roger Rendleman said the duties of revenue commissioner vary by county. In Lee County, Price said the office deals with the taxes associated with all property, motor vehicles and manufactured homes in the county.

Both candidates are graduates of Auburn University. King, who has been the court administrator for the City of Birmingham for the past five years, has served in public administration at the local or state level for more than 23 years.

She said she decided to challenge Price this year after a number of citizen complaints prompted her to investigate the efficiency of other revenue offices.

King said she found other ways to serve citizens that could put more of “an emphasis on customer service.”

King said the satellite office in Auburn will be great, but she’d rather see offices in the rural areas of Lee County.

“We can make things better,” she said.

Price said her office has “made a lot of strides” and she is “excited about what’s next.”

She noted that the Association of Assessing Officials named the Lee County Revenue Commissioner’s Office “Revenue Office of the Year” in 2007.

“I always ask people not to elect me to a position, but hire me to do a job,” she said.