Letter from Retiring Tax Commissioner Katherine Meyer

It has been such an honor to serve the citizens of Gwinnett County. If someone had told me I’d be in this job for 26 years, I would have never believed it.  It turned out to be my “dream job” and I will always have a soft place in my heart for Gwinnett County. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I took office in 1985 when the population of the county was 249,500.  The explosive growth within the next few years was overwhelming and exciting at the same time.  With 32 people working for me and a budget of $1.8 million, we managed to change the culture of the tax office to a customer focused government agency with new technology and new management practices. Today the county population hovers around 800,000 and my budget surpasses $9 billion. We still struggle to keep up with the challenges of a changing county – diversity, growth, and economic downturns.

In the 1984 election, I ran against a male incumbent who had been in office for 17 years. I thought he was old (only 3 years older than I am now) and that it was time for a change.  Although I had been politically active since high school and minored in Political Science in college, I had very little grassroots, in the trenches, political experience. But some good people took me under their wing and then threw me out of the proverbial nest. Next thing I knew I was the Tax Commissioner of Gwinnett County… thanks to Ronald Reagan whose extraordinary leadership helped many Republicans win around the country! 

I was shocked when I came into this office at the misappropriation of funds, the complete lack of accounting controls and the poor customer service. I was excited to have the chance to clean up the mess and balance the books – accounting being my first love!  My personality was a true fit for bringing about a complete culture change in the Tax Commissioner’s office where excellent customer service became the norm. We were NOT going to be a typical government agency. Today we continue to exceed our customers’ expectation and the staff continues to perform above and beyond my expectations. 

I am most proud of lobbying to change state law from the backward three-month tag system to a year-round staggered tag system. We opened up satellite tag offices around the county. We introduced new technology when affordable and applicable.  I spearheaded many statewide projects, including a new tag/title system and online tag registration. My leadership team is the best - I could not have accomplished these things without them. 

I gave a lot of thought to retiring because frankly, I love this job so much I thought I would never retire.  But as most people know, grandchildren change one’s perspective. I am blessed with two wonderful grandsons who live near me, and I look forward to spending more time with them.  I hope to travel some and visit my 93 year old mom who is still very active in North Carolina. 

Editor's note: Voters elected Katherine Meyer as tax commissioner in 1984. She will be retiring at the end of April. Her term ends in December 2012, Richard Steele, the current chief deputy tax commissioner, assumes the duties of tax commissioner on May 1.