Ingram to run for County Recorder, looks to consolidate office

Mike Ingram, who currently holds a seat on the Champaign County Board, representing District 6, announced Monday that he will run for the Champaign Country Recorder in 2020.

Ingram, who said he believes “every elected official has an obligation to be the best steward of taxpayer money,” will seek to consolidate the recorder’s office into the County Clerk’s office within his first term. 

“It was quickly obvious to me that, at a time when several long-deferred county projects and purchases are coming due, and when county employees are expected by some to shoulder more of their health care coverage costs, that having a separate recorder’s office is an irresponsible use of taxpayer money,” he said in a press release.

To Ingram, folding the recorder’s duties into the clerk’s office follows suit with what other counties in Illinois are doing. 

“Several counties have eliminated their recorders in recent years, including McLean, Cook, Winnebago, McHenry, and Madison,” Ingram cited. “As county budgets become more and more strained, counties have decided that spending over $100,000 a year on a redundant office is not practical or sustainable.”

Ingram said the move is something the Champaign County Board members and their constituents will have to consider as they look at the major financial decisions ahead of them.

“Running for this office and consolidating it allows me the opportunity to provide the county with a little more financial flexibility; and, as both a custodian of taxpayer money and a taxpayer myself, I will rest easier having advocated for a sound financial decision,” Ingram said.