The County Auditor is the county’s chief fiscal officer who handles all of the accounting for county finances. In Porter County, that person is Vicki Urbanik. The only government job that she has ever been elected to, Urbanik first ran for the job of County Auditor in 2010 but was not successful in that election. She ran again in 2014 and was elected to her first term. In 2018, she won her re-election bid, giving her a second term.
Urbanik is quite happy that the voters had confidence in her and felt that she did a good job in her first term to re-elect her. This is her last term as Porter County Auditor as the position only allows for two terms.
Urbanik wasn’t always a CPA. She first went to school for journalism, then went back to Indiana University Northwest for accounting and became a Certified Public Accountant.
She has been fascinated with local government finance for a very long time and when she was asked what she likes the most about the job of County Auditor, she replied that she likes almost everything about the job.
One of the main things that she has been working on are budgets. The departments submit budgets with all of their requests and Urbanik’s job is to determine much money the county is going to have available.
“My desire to be involved in government goes way, way, way back," Urbanik said. “I attribute it to my mom. Growing up, my mom was very engaged in the community.”
One thing that may seem confusing is understanding the difference between her job as County Auditor and that of the County Treasurer.
“The Treasurer is responsible for collecting money, such as property taxes, and handling the banking processes involved,” Urbanik said. “My office handles the accounting for the money collected. The reason why one office doesn't do both is because there needs to be a separation of duties -- a checks and balance -- between the office that physically handles money and the one that records the accounting.”
In conclusion, the County Auditor is a very important job for all citizens of Porter County. It is especially important for all Porter County employees because the office of the Porter County Auditor handles their payroll. That includes the people who work the polls for Election Days.
Vicki Urbanik is someone who clearly loves her job and was very excited to talk about her work. She has been highly successful in the office of Porter County Auditor and I am glad that she has chosen to serve constituents in this capacity.