Three Vying for Kane County Auditor

Kane County Auditor Bill Keck’s retirement after more than 20 years has three Republican candidates running in Tuesday’s primary to replace him.

Karl Regnier, Laura Wallett and Terry Hunt each praises Keck and say he has done a good job running the auditor’s office. But each has a different philosophy about the job, and each feels they have specific skills suited for the job.

Karl Regnier

Regnier, a Kane County sheriff’s correctional officer, does not want to go in and change everything. He wants to see how the office operates and then evaluate any changes.

“We all agree it (is) pretty efficient,” Regnier said. “The way I see it is they want the office to be something other than it is. It is functional now. They would like to change the office from what it is to today and add functions already done by (the) finance” department.

He does not have plans to go in and change things unless they need to be changed. “You go in there, learn what’s going on: You analyze, you look at the objects and if changes need to be made, you make the changes,” he said.

Regnier feels his experience with the Kane County Sheriff’s Office has given him exposure to how the county works.

He has an accounting degree and runs his own insurance agency.

“I have a unique perspective,” he said. “Working for the county, I do know the ins and outs of county government.”

Terry Hunt

Candidates for auditors “want to continue to improve on the services provided,” Hunt said. The office is small, with just three employees and a small budget. “It requires someone to go in and collaborate and cooperate with other departments,” he said.

If elected, he wants to publish the county checkbook online to make information user-friendly for taxpayers, he said. The information is available but it is very cumbersome, he said. He has already researched a way to implement the system without additional cost to taxpayers. “We can’t further burden taxpayers,” he said.

Hunt, of Big Rock, has been an accountant and auditor for 37 years. He has had experience working with union labor contracts and handling annual budgets. Keck has endorsed his candidacy.

“One thing I promised all my opponents and promise everyone supporting me and voting for me, my campaign is always based on my credentials, my experience and my plan for the county.”

Laura Wallett

Wallett, of South Elgin, has been an accountant for 22 years and wants to “put her experience, integrity, and sound judgment to work for the people of Kane County,” according to her website.

If elected, she wants to be “a voice for the taxpayers” and considers herself a fiscal conservative, the site states.

“When you are spending taxpayers’ dollars, you ought to be getting a dollar’s worth of value,” she recently told the The Beacon-News in Aurora.

She owns her own accounting firm and “counsels her clients regularly on ways to adjust for unstable revenues, escalating costs and depleting savings,” the site states.

That experience will help her to run the auditor’s office, according to her campaign literature.