Central Oregonian

Mohan joins race for county commissioner

Mohan feels he has the skills to help with some of the county’s financial difficulties

Kevin Gaboury

March 16, 2010

Prineville Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Mike Mohan is taking another run at Crook County commissioner.

Mohan, a Democrat, filed to run against Republicans Seth Crawford, incumbent Lynn Lundquist, and Don Fox, last week. Mohan held the commissioner seat #2 position from 2003-2006. He ran for a second term, but lost a close election to Lundquist in 2006.

"I really enjoyed the chance to serve the public and it was something I thought I could still be helpful with," Mohan said, of his reason for filing. "I've seen the financial difficulties the county's had and I think I have some skills that would be helpful in helping in those circumstances."

He feels the primary thing that sets him apart from the other candidates is his experience at the commissioner position. He mentioned he has served longer (four years) than current incumbent Lundquist (three years).

"I have excellent experience at working at the county and serving in that position," he said. "I have many years of experience involved in the business community with lots of the decision-makers and leaders in the community through the other activities I've been involved in over the years."

Mohan has worked as a CPA at his own Prineville business since 1982 and started in the field in 1979. He feels one of the biggest issues facing the county right now is its dismal financial situation, something he hopes his accounting background can help remedy.

"I know the county is looking at significant declines in road department revenue over the next few years," he said. "There are a lot of issues with the county because there are so many different services and areas that the county is involved in - from planning to building to public health - all the myriad of services."

Adding to the problem, the county is looking at at least two more years without significant growth in assessed value of properties.

"From a taxpayers' standpoint, it means their taxes probably aren't going to go up very much, if at all," Mohan said. "From the county's standpoint, it means their source of revenue is flat or declining."

Mohan would like to bring additional financial scrutiny at the county court level and work closer with the treasurer's office than the current commission.

"The treasurer is reporting all the information to the court, I just don't know if the court is making full use of the information," he said. "I'd like to improve the interface with the treasurer's office.

"Right now, that's what I'm seeing," Mohan continued. "We're not seeing a lot of new things happening in the areas that had provided budget growth in prior years - such as primarily the development areas. We may need to be looking at how those departments operate in the future."