Owens to take treasurer's post

Republican Sharon Owens will take office as Putnam County treasurer in 2010.

She beat her opponent Amanda Mullenix by more than 1,700 votes Tuesday.

Owens, who has been a deputy treasurer in Putnam County for nine years, will take over for Janet Deaton in January 2010.

"I appreciate my opponent. It was a clean race," Owens said after learning of her victory.

Owens has two items on her "to-do" list.

The first will be to make sure the office is helpful, informative and courteous to customers.

It has been a problem she wants to address, she said.

The second thing on the list is to put taxes on the Internet for taxpayers to view.

They will also be able to pay their statements by check, debit or credit card on the Web site.

This will be a helpful feature for realtors and mortgage companies as well, Owens said.

She would also like to see better communications between all the office holders.

Owens feels with her experience and knowledge of collecting property taxes, sewer liens and inheritance tax, investing of county funds, data entry and balancing the county ledger with the auditor's office, reconciling county bank statements, filing all required monthly, quarterly and annual reports, real estate sales and several other areas, she will be an effective Putnam County Treasurer.