Pennsylvania Treasurer

Pennsylvania State Treasurer
Logo of the Pennsylvania State Treasury
Flag of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Incumbent Stacy Garrity since January 19, 2021
Residence	129 Finance Building, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Term length	Four years, renewable once consecutively
Inaugural holder	David Rittenhouse
Formation	1777
Website	www.patreasury.gov

The Pennsylvania State Treasurer is the head of the Pennsylvania Treasury Department, an independent department of state government. The state treasurer is elected every four years. Treasurers are limited to two consecutive terms.

The Pennsylvania Treasury Department[]

As the name "Treasury" suggests, the department's paramount responsibility is safeguarding and managing the state's financial assets, but Pennsylvania's constitution and statutes place additional specific responsibilities on the office.^{[citation needed]}

Taxes and other sources of revenue collected by the state are deposited with the Treasury. The department uses that money to make payments on behalf of state government, including payroll for state employees and charges incurred by government agencies. Before issuing payments, Treasury's Bureau of Fiscal Review must carefully examine invoices to make certain the charges are lawful and correct.^{[citation needed]}

While managing cash flow to ensure that enough money is on hand to meet financial obligations, Treasury also places funds in widely diversified short-term and long-term investments to earn income for state taxpayers. It also holds and/or invests funds for other government agencies, such as the state pension boards. As of 2014, Treasury is custodian of approximately $100 billion in public assets.^{[citation needed]}

PA 529 College Savings Program[]

The PA 529 College Savings Program gives families a tax-advantaged way to make college possible for their children.^{[citation needed]}

Unclaimed property[]

Treasury's Unclaimed Property Bureau works to reunite more than $2 billion in lost, forgotten and abandoned property with its rightful owners. Since 2009, Treasury has collected $1.134 billion in abandoned property and returned $518 million back to the rightful owners, netting $616 million for the state General Fund budget.^{[citation needed]}

INVEST[]

The INVEST program helps local governments and nonprofits invest their money with flexibility, security, and confidence. INVEST uses Treasury's professional investment expertise, minus the high costs of other investment programs. With less money spent on management fees, more money is spent on Pennsylvania's communities.^{[citation needed]}

Oversight[]

Through its various activities, Treasury is a money-maker for the state, producing non-tax revenue that benefits the people of the commonwealth. Along with the $616 million from Unclaimed Property, Treasury in the past five years has earned $2.32 billion in investment returns and blocked $450 million in improper payments identified through the fiscal review process. During those five years, Treasury cost taxpayers only about $250 million to operate, meaning Treasury produced a profit for Pennsylvania taxpayers of more than $3.1 billion.^{[citation needed]}

Responsibilities[]

1. Conducting investigations of loss, theft, or fraud involving commonwealth checks.
2. Reviewing and approving real estate leases and sole source contracts entered into by commonwealth agencies before such leases and contracts can become effective.
3. Housing the Pennsylvania Contracts e-Library. In response to the new Right-to-Know Law signed by Governor Ed Rendell on February 14, 2008, Treasury is required to make available certain government contract information for public inspection by posting it on a publicly accessible Web site.^{[citation needed]}

State boards[]

The department's reach also extends to the many state boards on which the treasurer serves. For example, as the chairperson of the Board of Finance and Revenue, the treasurer directs the selection of the banks where state funds are deposited and sets the interest rates paid on them. The treasurer also serves on boards that oversee state pension funds and has a voice in how these funds are managed and invested. Other board-related activities allow the treasurer to help provide Pennsylvania schools with tax-exempt financing for modernization, make grants to distressed communities, and finance the purchase of rental housing for residents in need.^{[citation needed]}

Other services[]

The Treasury provides several other services to state residents, such as financial education programs for individuals and businesses, and a debit card for recipients of unemployment compensation and workers compensation benefits. It makes low-interest loans available for energy efficiency improvements in residential homes through Keystone HELP, and invests in energy upgrades in college and university buildings through its Campus Energy Efficiency Fund.^{[citation needed]}

List of Pennsylvania Treasurers[]

This list is incomplete; you can help by . (February 2009)

Portrait	Name	Term	Party
	Samuel Carpenter	1704–1710, 1711–1713
	David Rittenhouse	1777–1789
	Christian Febiger	1789–1797
		1797–1801
		1801–1802
	Isaac Weaver Jr.	1802–1807	Democratic-Republican
	William Findlay	1807–1817	Democratic-Republican
		1817–1820
	John B. Trevor	1820–1821
		1821–1827
		1827–1835
	Joseph Lawrence	1835–1836
	Daniel Sturgeon	1836–1840
	Almon Heath Read	1840–1841	Democratic
	John Gilmore	1841–1842
	Job Mann	1842–1845
	James Ross Snowden	1845–1847
	John Banks	1847–1848
		1848–1849
		1849–1850
		1850–1854
	Joseph Bailey	1854–1855	Democratic
		1855–1856
		1856–1859
	Eli Slifer	1859–1861
	Henry D. Moore	1861–1863	Republican
		1863–1864
	Henry D. Moore	1864–1865	Republican
		1865–1868
		1868–1869
		1869–1870
	W. W. Irwin	1870–1871
	Robert W. Mackey	1871–1876
		1876–1878
	Amos C. Noyes	1878–1880
		1880–1882
		1882–1884
		1884–1886
	Matthew Quay	1886–1887	Republican
	William Livsey	1887–1888
		1888–1889
	William Livsey	1889–1890
		1890–1892
		1892–1894
		1894–1896
		1896–1898
		1898–1900	Republican
		1900–1902
		1902–1904
	William L. Mathues	1904–1906	Republican
	William H. Berry	1906–1908	Democratic
		1908–1911	Republican
	Charles Frederick Wright	1911–1913	Republican
		1913–1917	Republican
		1917–1921	Republican
	Charles A. Snyder	1921–1925	Republican
	Samuel S. Lewis	1925–1929	Republican
	Edward Martin	1929–1933	Republican
		1933–1937	Republican
	F. Clair Ross	1937–1941	Democratic
	G. Harold Wagner	1941–1945	Democratic
		1945–1949	Democratic
		1949–1953	Republican
	Weldon Brinton Heyburn	1953–1957	Republican
	Robert F. Kent	1957–1961	Republican
	Grace M. Sloan	1961–1965	Democratic
	Thomas Z. Minehart	1965–1969	Democratic
	Grace M. Sloan	1969–1977	Democratic
	Robert E. Casey[1]	1977–1981	Democratic
	R. Budd Dwyer	1981–1987	Republican
	G. Davis Greene Jr.	1987–1989	Democratic
	Catherine Baker Knoll	1989–1997	Democratic
	Barbara Hafer (switched to Democratic Party in 2003)	1997–2005	Republican
			Democratic
	Bob Casey Jr.	2005–2007	Democratic
	Robin L. Wiessmann	2007–2009	Democratic
	Robert McCord	2009–2015	Democratic
	Tim Reese	2015–2017	Independent
	Joe Torsella	2017–2021	Democratic
	Stacy Garrity	2021–present	Republican

See also[]

• Governor of Pennsylvania
• Pennsylvania Attorney General
• Pennsylvania Auditor General
• Pennsylvania General Assembly
• Pennsylvania State Capitol

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to State treasurers of Pennsylvania.

• The Pennsylvania Treasury Department