COLUMBIANA CO. Treasurer plans to run again

Bolon originally was appointed to the post after a career as a state auditor.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Columbiana County Treasurer Linda Bolon says she will seek a second full term in office.
Bolon, 55, of East Palestine, took out election petitions earlier this week at the Columbiana County elections board for the November 2004 general election.
Although that election is more than a year away, deadline for filing as a partisan candidate for the race is Jan. 2.
Bolon, a Democrat, said she's running again for the four-year post because she has certain projects she wants to see completed.
Among those are creation of a new, more informative property tax bill.
The new bill will feature a pie chart depicting how tax dollars are spread among different governmental entities.
Bolon said she wants to continue her plan to get the county caught up as much as possible on tax delinquencies. She also wants to undertake a project to compile archived treasurer department data on compact disk, which would make it easier for researchers to study.
Tax-bill drop-off box
Bolon also has been considering installation of a tax-bill drop-off box that would be installed outside the courthouse and allow people to pay tax bills 24 hours a day.
Tax bills may be mailed in, but many people like to bring their payments personally to the courthouse. The drop-off box would make that easier, Bolon has said.
She was appointed treasurer in October 1999 to fill the unexpired term of Angie Frank, who resigned for retirement purposes.
The county Democratic Party had the option of naming Bolon because Frank was a Democrat.
Bolon ran for election in 2000 and won, defeating Republican challenger Keith Nixon.
Before being appointed treasurer, Bolon worked 16 years with the state auditor's office.
She also was treasurer for the East Palestine School District and for Edison schools in Jefferson County.