By Townhall Chicago News Staff
Kane County’s elected treasurer has posted a roughly tenfold increase in the county’s annual investment income since taking office, according to figures the office has publicized through monthly statements. Christopher J. “Chris” Lauzen, the Kane County Treasurer and a Republican seeking a second term, attributes the turnaround to a competitive bidding process for the county’s banking contract and a more active approach to investing idle county cash.
“Rather than $2,000,000 a year, we’re making them $20 million a year on average — so 10 times more,” he says.
Lauzen holds a Certified Public Accountant credential and worked in accounting and tax services before entering public life. He represented Kane County in the Illinois State Senate for about two decades, then served two terms as Kane County Board chairman starting in 2012. He says the county froze its property tax levy for eight straight years and cut public debt by 70 percent during that tenure. “The next eight years, we didn’t ask the property taxpayers for one penny more to run the county,” he says. “We paid down the public debt by 70%. We had surpluses every year.”
Lauzen says he left $350 million in county reserves when he voluntarily stepped aside after two terms as board chairman. Watching county Finance Committee meetings after leaving office, he grew frustrated that the reserve was earning little interest. “I left $350 million in the bank,” he says. “I made a mistake by leaving.” He ran for treasurer and won, then issued a request for proposals that drew interest from 18 investment firms.
That review also uncovered a shortfall in the county’s prior banking arrangement. “We found that the bank — for all those years — we were getting shortchanged $650,000 a year,” Lauzen says. “So we made the change, and now the new bank, the taxpayers get” the money back, he says. He also points to the county’s property tax collection rate, which he puts at 99.97 percent.
The investment turnaround earned Lauzen the 2025 cashVest National Leadership Award for Financial Management, presented by investment consulting firm three+one to a single recipient nationally each year.
Now 73, Lauzen is seeking a final term in office. He says his priority for the next term is recruiting and training treasury staff ahead of the retirement of several long-tenured employees. He discussed his record and plans the day before the Nov. 3 general election.
