We are less than four weeks until Election Day and the race for Nevada State Treasurer may not be one of the most races, but the office serves a very important role.
The treasurer acts as the state’s chief financial officer and also handles college funds as well as many other things.
Come January, a new face will be running the treasury.
Current Treasurer Zach Conine will be termed out.
The race is between republican, Drew Johnson, and democrat, Tya Mathis-Coleman.
Drew Johnson is the Republican nominee for Nevada State Treasurer.
Introductions
Johnson, was born in Tennessee and was raised in a blue collar household.
When he was 24-years-old he founded a pro-liberty think tank, which identifies policy issues and researches ideas.
"So I've got a 25-year background protecting tax dollars,” he said in an one-on-one interview with 2 News Nevada. “I've spent my career working in government finance and also being a government watchdog.”
Johnson has run for congress and Clark County Commission in the last two election cycles.
Mathis-Coleman is a silver state native.
She grew up in Las Vegas until she attended the University of Nevada, Reno and got her political science degree.
Afterwards, Mathis-Coleman worked for the university, then a nonprofit before returning down south to work with the Clark County School District.
"And then six and a half years ago I decided to apply for a job at the Nevada Treasurer's Office and it was the Deputy Treasurer over (the) college savings (program),” she said in a one-on-one interview with 2 News Nevada. “So, in that role I would oversee the Millennium Scholarship. So, for me that was a very full circle moment. This scholarship invested in me."
Tya Mathis-Coleman is the Democratic nominee for Nevada State Treasurer.
Conine’s administration
"Zach you know first approached me, Treasurer Conine, and he said hey I think you should run for treasurer and he's like we've done such incredible work under this administration, and I couldn't agree more," Mathis-Coleman said.
While she’s proud of the administration, Mathis-Coleman says there are always ways to improve.
"I think that your office can always be better, right,” she said. “In a state agency, a lot of times people complain about time. Well, this took too long, and so I want to get quicker, better, faster in everything, in all aspects."
The delays are what Johnson coined as Conine’s “biggest failure” specifically citing returns from unclaimed property.
“There are states that have automated, this made it much more simple and we can get money back actually automatically without people asking for it,” Johnson said. “So, I want to focus on that.”
Johnson also criticized Conine’s investments with the State Infrastructure Bank, which includes funding for affordable housing.
Millennium Scholarship
The Governor Guinn Millennium Scholarship Program is managed by the office.
It has provided up to $10,000 in tuition assistance for Nevada students since 2000, after the Nevada Legislature created the fund in 1999.
The scholarship is at risk of losing its funding, which Mathis-Coleman hopes to get in the 2027 Nevada Legislative Session.
“So, it's a scholarship that we want to continue to invest in,” she said. “So how can we make this scholarship really long, last long? And I think we need to have, bring in all the stakeholders, the legislators, the treasurer's office, and the current students."
In our sit-down with Johnson, he was quite critical about Mathis-Coleman’s time in the treasury overseeing the College Savings Program.
"She hasn't come up with ways to reduce spending,” he said. “She hasn't figured out ways to bring new money into it.”
According to the Nevada Independent, if no action is made the scholarship will not have enough to cover all eligible students by next year.
Johnson says he has a plan to use the money more efficiently.
“More competitive,” he said. “So, instead of giving it basically to everybody who graduates high school, go back to what Governor Guinn intended which was you know best and brightest maybe the top 15-20 percent of graduating class. Don't let people have it for six years. Let them have it for four years.”
Johnson also suggested using some of the unclaimed property money and put it into a fund to put towards the scholarship.
Other priorities
"I've got a career in government finance in saving taxpayers money,” Johnson said. “And I've got really innovative new ideas like getting rid of the state gas tax by using some of the new mining money we've got coming in. So I'm really excited to do all the things that the treasurer's office can do to make people's life a little bit better."
Johnson says helping to get rid of the gas tax will help alleviate the burden for Nevadans.
"We have a tremendous surplus the last few years because we're overpaying as taxpayers,” he said. “And rather than letting the lawmakers just blow that money, I want to set that aside into a permanent fund that we invest and take the investment returns to pay for state highway funding.”
For Mathis-Coleman, she wants to expand the College Savings Program to help families who may not be thinking about college.
“Whatever you and your child want to dream of being, our office can help you get there, and not just if you want to go to college, right? I still want our college savings, I still want our scholarships and our 529 plans, but what else can we do to help our families in Nevada that may not want to go to college?"
The election is on November 3. Early voting starts October 17.
