Taylor Sappington, who is well-known for his work as Nelsonville city auditor, has decided to add his name into the race for Athens County treasurer. His campaign focus is largely stability and maintenance on current successes, he said.
“You can’t just assume it’s going to get done and that the right thing is going to get done,” Sappington said. “You have to get your hands dirty, get in there and do it yourself.”
Growing up, he was raised by a single mother, who instilled this belief in him, he added. She taught him to care for and be involved with his community, which inspired Sappington’s initial and continued ventures into local politics.
Over the last four years, Sappington has worked to produce a variety of tangible improvements to Nelsonville’s finances, including the successful prosecution of former city officials for illegal practices in office, he said.
As Nelsonville’s City Auditor, Sappington also helped to build the biggest financial surplus in the city’s history, moved all financial transactions onto the city’s website and earned the first Clean Audit Award in over a decade for the city in 2021.
“I believe in our democracy, in our little one right here, and I’m a huge proponent of results based work,” Sappington said.
He hopes to continue this method of operation if he wins the race for treasurer as well as work to create and maintain stability throughout the county’s finances. Although Sappington is not looking to make any sweeping reforms, he would work to make the office more accessible to both citizens and officials alike, he said.
Sappington feels there is an overarching pattern of absence throughout a variety of political offices in the U.S. as a whole and plans to help alleviate the pattern in Athens County by being in the office whenever possible. He has experience working with a variety of political groups and challenges in Nelsonville, which helps to provide a background for this work, he added.
“I want to make sure there is never an absence when I’m county treasurer,” Sappington said. “I want to be there, want to be present, available. Returning all the phone calls, all the emails and frankly following up with people in the time that they deserve; I think that’s important.”
Additionally, Sappington hopes to help bring the county land bank — a department which utilizes property tax penalties to repurpose abandoned or condemned properties — to a point which better benefits the citizens of Athens County.
The land bank has already been effective throughout Nelsonville, which helps to raise property values as a whole, Sappington said. Although the department is already doing well with the maintenance of current partnerships, he hopes to encourage its growth and expansion for the benefit of the community.
Since the beginning of his campaign, Sappington has made multiple efforts to speak with citizens and community members about his campaign and any issues they would like to see addressed, he said. Further, his team is working to schedule a fundraiser for later in the year as well as a variety of other events he and his team will attend.
“I can’t assume that somebody else with the experience and the resume and the education are going to run and be able to do the job,” Sappington said. “I need to do that myself and frankly, that’s my pitch to the county. I have the resume. I have the experience and despite being the youngest person, should I win,…I will be coming into the seat with an enormous amount of experience in government finance.”
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