Welch Will Retire As Champaign County Treasurer At Year’s End
After a career spent with the Champaign County Treasurer’s office, county Treasurer Dan Welch says he’ll be retiring at year’s end.
Welch will step down about 11 months before the end of his fifth term as Champaign County Treasurer.
Before he was treasurer, Welch worked in the county treasurer’s office, work that began in 1973 when he was 18 and just out of high school. Welch continued to help out at the treasurer's office through college, and went to work there full-time after graduation.
Welch says when he began working for the Champaign County Treasurer, the office had a staff of around 14, who worked without computers to keep track of a tax collection totaling around $30 million. Today, he says a staff of five (including himself) relies on computers to process over $332 million in annual tax revenue for Champaign County.
Welch worked for Champaign County Treasurers Jim Skelton, Ormand Hixson and Roger Little. When Little announced his retirement, Welch, by then the office's chief deputy, ran for treasurer himself, and was elected in 1998, defeating Democratic candidate Jennifer Gentry. In subsequent elections, Welch has won re-election with no challengers, including at the primary level.
Welch is a Republican, but he says he’s not terribly political. So he says he’s been able to work well with both parties on the Champaign County Board.
“What’s most important to me is, I’ve never advocated for any positions”, said Welch. “When I present numbers to the county board, it’s important that they don’t believe that I’m advocating one way or the other, that these numbers are as accurate as I can provide to them, and unbiased as I can provide them. So, that’s helped foster a good relationship with the county board.”
The 62-year-old Welch says he hopes to spend his retirement doing community service work, getting in more traveling and reading, and spoiling his grandkids.
Champaign County Republicans will nominate a candidate for the county board to name as Welch’s successor as county treasurer for the final months of his term.