Washington County Auditor
Unmatched Government Experience
John’s experience encompasses the executive, legislative and judicial branches and the local, state, and federal levels of government.
- Public high-school teacher
- Law clerk to a Supreme Court Justice
- Practicing attorney
- Justice system researcher and planner
- Consultant to Presidential Commission, governing boards, executive leadership, and the courts.
- Internal auditor
- Elected auditor
John serves on the Audit Committee of the Oregon Public Defense Services Commission and consults to audit shops around the country on compliance with professional auditing standards.
Audit Accomplishments
John’s recommendations have saved millions of taxpayer dollars, but auditing is not just about saving money.
As your County Auditor, John held county executives accountable for misuse of expense accounts and persuaded county administration to create an ethics hotline.
John has worked hard to ensure:
- Your identity is not stolen when you pay County taxes or fees with a credit card,
- Your lost pet is well cared for in the animal shelter,
- Your ambulance arrives in time, and
- No one suffers or dies from lack of medical care in the county jail before they even get to trial.
In prior audit positions, John:
- Improved membership services, data center operations, IT system development, optical services, inventory control, patient privacy, cash control, and provider contracting. Kaiser Permanente Health Plans
- Ensured compliance with federal regulations and improved quality control of road construction. OR Transportation Dept.
- Ensured equitable distribution of state school funding to local districts and the accuracy of reported performance. OR Dept. of Education
- Increased visiting nurse assistance to young mothers, city payments for Sheriff’s Patrol services, and management of road construction projects. Multnomah County
- Improved the quality of asphalt supplies and street maintenance, compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act , and controls over lobbying expenses. City of Portland
Examples of John’s Impact
- In response to John’s audits, Kaiser Permanente Health Plans implemented process improvements in membership services, data center operations, IT system development, optical services, inventory control, patient privacy, cash control, provider contracting and other areas.
- As a result of John’s audit of Oregon’s first locally managed, federally-funded highway construction project, the Oregon Department of Transportation implemented changes to ensure compliance with federal regulations and improve management and quality control.
- At the Oregon Department of Human Services, John implemented a risk-based audit planning and quality control process for the internal audit function.
- As a result of John’s efforts, the Oregon Department of Education made changes to ensure the equitable distribution of $6 billion per biennium in state school funding to local school districts, to ensure compliance with purchase card control, and to improve the accuracy of reported performance measures. John also helped to recover $1 million in embezzled federal funds for the benefit of Oregon schools. He strengthened the internal audit function by setting up an Audit Committee, Internal Audit Charter, and audit procedure manual.
- In response to John’s audit recommendations, County management implemented changes to increase assistance to young mothers through the Nurse Home Visiting Program, to phase out law enforcement subsidies to cities, and to improve management of road construction projects.
- Based on John’s recommendations, City management made changes to improve the quality and reliability of asphalt supplies and the efficiency and effectiveness of street maintenance, to ensure compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, and to improve controls over lobbying expenses.
Re-elect John Hutzler for Washington County Auditor 