Friendswood to consider supporting abolition of county treasurer’s office

The Friendswood City Council will consider a resolution to support the abolition of the Office of the Galveston County Treasurer at an upcoming Feb. 6 meeting.

The Friendswood City Council’s discussion comes as state lawmakers and Galveston County officials— including the treasurer himself—push to have the office abolished.

The office is held by Hank Dugie, a former League City City Council Member who ran for county treasurer on a campaign to abolish the position, eventually being elected into the role Nov. 8. According to Dugie’s campaign website, he sought to abolish the position he was running for to “further reduce the size of our government and lower property taxes.”

The Galveston County Commissioners Court voted unanimously in support of abolishing the county treasurer’s office at a special meeting Dec. 23, requesting the Texas Legislature pass a constitutional amendment abolishing the office.

State Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Wallisville, who represents Galveston, Brazoria and Harris counties, filed a bill early in the 88th Texas Legislature “proposing a constitutional amendment to abolish the office of county treasurer of Galveston County.”

The court’s resolution on the matter indicates that nine other Texas counties have abolished their treasurer offices, including Andrews, Bee, Bexar, Collin, El Paso, Fayette, Gregg, Nueces and Tarrant. It states the abolishment of the office would save taxpayers about $500,000 annually.

Additionally, the court’s resolution calls back to a previous incident in 2018 when the county was scammed out of about $525,000, saying the removal of the treasurer’s office would “reduce the risk of misappropriated funds as was experienced in 2018.”