Sienkowski seeks Stafford Treasurer seat, calls for longer office hours, upgraded system

Mike Sienkowski, 39, is running for the GOP nomination for Stafford County Treasurer.

Sienkowski has worked for the Commissioner of the Revenue’s Office (the office that determines county property values) for the past 17 years. After 17 years as a county employee, Seinkowski wants to oversee the treasurer’s office (the office that produces the tax bills, mails them, and collects payment).

This is his first run at political office. He aims to replace Laura Rudy, who held the seat since 2008 and is not seeking reelection. Rudy endorsed Heather Mitchell, who works in her office and is also seeking the GOP nomination.

Commissioner of the Revenue Scott Mayausky endorsed Sienkowski. The treasurer and commissioner of the revenue offices sit next to each other on the second floor of the county government center.

Sienkowski is married to his wife of 13 years and has three children, ages 9, 5,  and 6 months.

The GOP Primary Election is June 20, 2023. Find your polling place.

I interviewed Sienkowski about his race. You can see the entire interview video here.

Why do you want to be treasurer?

“We’re talking about a lot of money here, and I feel like you have to give it to somebody who kind of knows how the system works and somebody who has a firm foundation in the government, understands how all the departments work. I feel like I’m the best person for this job because I spent my career working within the system and also trying to improve it for the taxpayers. And the treasurer is a very critical role in this county, and it needs to have somebody that’s a professional who has the experience and the education to do that job. And that’s really why I’m running. I feel like it’s that important that I need to run.”

Are there any processes that you see that could use improvement in the treasurer’s office?

“So, as an elected official, I think one of the really important things is you want to make systems that work for the citizens. Right. So customer service is always key. I think we need to expand the office hours.”

“Currently, the office closes prior to the building, and that creates headaches for a lot of other departments and citizens I know, like utilities, if they shut your water off and you run out here to get it resolved, and then you can’t go pay. So that causes some headaches there that I want to fix on the county’s website. It still doesn’t have your payment history up there. Me having kind of like an It project manager background, I see that as a simple fix, something that should easily be corrected, but it’s been sitting out there for eight months, not corrected.”

“As I’ve been talking to citizens, a lot of them don’t know what their options are when it comes to if they have trouble with paying their taxes. I think there’s a lack of communication from the office. So people don’t really know what their options are until their wages are garnished, or there’s a DMV stop, and they can’t renew their tax. So it’s like, I feel the office right now may do the most efficient route to get the money collected, but it needs to communicate with the taxpayers better.”

What about online tax payments?

[Laura Rudy] brought online payments to the county, so I just feel like the more recent upgrade or system change that they did was somewhat rushed, and that’s why there are things that are important that still aren’t showing up there. So I give her credit for the online payments. That’s great. There’s one issue that’s looming over us, and that is that we’re on a 30-year-old cashiering system.”

“So as you know, technology changes fast and so we do have to start considering our options. And I’ve seen in other localities what happens when you don’t have a strong leader with good institutional knowledge, and they pass the buck to their It department to pick a software solution for them, and it can create a huge disaster. And so that is something that I’ve already started actively kind of looking into because we handle stuff on the billing side too. That’s something that’s looming over us. That’s something that needs to be addressed as well.”

Your opponent, Heather Mitchell, is endorsed by Laura Rudy, the outgoing treasurer, whose held the job since 2008. You’re endorsed by the Commissioner of the Revenue, Scott Mayauysky. The two offices sit next to each other at the County Government Center. With the heads of those two departments supporting different candidates, has that made for interesting times?

“It certainly has. It’s been a little stressful just having that sort of conflict between the offices. I personally got along with Laura just fine. And when I told her I was running, I said, ‘Hey, you know what, I’d welcome your support if you ever change your mind.’ But I applaud her for she told Heather she was going to support her, and she stuck to it. But I have concerns that Heather doesn’t have the skill set to carry out this job because it’s not a political role in the typical sense. Right. It’s not the same as running for a senator or state delegate. This is a professional job. I’m a department manager, director. So I need to have that expertise in order to do my job efficiently.”