Longtime collector, Linda Stude, looks back on 24-year career
Posted 11/7/19
By Tim Schmidt Record Managing Editor Linda Stude woke up every morning not necessarily concerned about going to work. Over the years, she encountered others who disliked their job or career. Stude …
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Longtime collector, Linda Stude, looks back on 24-year career
Posted
By Tim SchmidtRecord Managing EditorLinda Stude woke up every morning not necessarily concerned about going to work.Over the years, she encountered others who disliked their job or career. Stude was fortunate to never feel that way.“I have always looked forward to going to work at whatever job I have held at the time,” she said.This week marks the end of a 24-year career as Warren County collector. Stude’s final day is this Friday. She plans to pursue other interests that have been placed on the back-burner for years due to a lack of time.Julie Schaumberg won a crowded Republican primary race last year and will succeed Stude, who announced her plans to not seek a seventh four-year term in November 2013.Prior to being collector, Stude sold real estate inWarren and surrounding counties for a family-owned firm.She is grateful for the support she received from county taxpayers over the years.“In return I tried my best to never lose sight of who my bosses were,” Stude remarked.Stude recently provided answers toThe Recordto discuss her time spent as collector.Q: What will you miss about your job?“My favorite part of the job has always been interacting with the taxpayers of Warren County and the employees (both in my office and other county offices). I shall miss that interaction immensely.”Q: What was your least favorite part of the job?“That would have to be imposing penalties on taxpayers. Charging penalties and late fees, turning delinquent accounts over to the prosecutor, and selling taxpayers’ property at tax sales for delinquent taxes was always stressful to me. This was especially hard when taxpayers incurred these penalties through a misunderstanding of the process or as a result of misjudging timing required to obtain timely postmark or delivery of their payment.Q: In all those years, did you ever entertain thoughts of running for a different office?“I never gave another office a thought, as I always have found the collector’s office very challenging and full of variety. I must say — it never got boring.”Q: Why did the collector’s office appeal to you over other choices?“One of the things I most like about the collector’s position is that I found it to be (as much as is possible) a clearly defined job. In most instances (except when taxpayers got exceptionally ‘creative’) the statutes dictated the manner in which the office was to be managed. The structure of that appealed to my nature. Also, I felt my background melded very well with the job to be done. I was able to draw on many of the prior lessons of life and apply them.”Q: What are you most proud of?“That I ran an office where the rules and policies of the office were applied the same to everyone, and I hope most taxpayers felt it was done in a friendly and caring manner.”Q: In your tenure, what has been the biggest change?“That would have to be the growth of the county bringing with it a massive increase in the workload of the office. When I first took office in 1991, the assessed valuation for real estate was $122,646,230 and personal property was $25,259,740 generating less than $6 million in tax billings. Besides the collector, there was one full-time clerk, one part-time clerk, and two seasonal workers.“The 2014 tax season brought an assessed valuation for real estate of $415,474,772 and for personal property of $91,796,603, generating over $31 million in tax billings.“Besides the collector the office now has five full-time deputies and four seasonal. But regardless the mandate of the job itself remained the same — collect the monies due to the taxing districts and account for those collections.”Q: What do you feel has been the biggest success in your tenure as collector?“That’s easy. I credit any measure of success I have had in managing the collector’s office to the people I chose to surround myself with. I have been blessed over the years to have chosen staff (whether they be full time or seasonal) that have had a respect for the taxpayers of Warren County, a good work ethic, embraced challenges, worked well together as a team, and were always cognizant of the importance to detail and documentation. They have been a delight to spend the day with and I shall miss them immensely.“Over the years I have also been blessed with other elected officials who lent their knowledge and talents to me; working with me, with an eye toward achieving the level of service to the taxpayers of the county that they deserve.”Q: Do you leave the office with any regrets?“There are always regrets. Things you wish you had handled differently, concessions you wish you could have made (due to the particular set of circumstances), things you wish you had accomplished and implemented. Overall, however, I am content with what I did accomplish over the years and with the state of the office I am turning over.”
RETIREMENT AWAITS — Warren County Collector Linda Stude will retire at the end of this week following 24 years in her position. Tim Schmidt photo.
