News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Ed Black, 26th Circuit Court judge, left, gives the oath of office to new Alpena County Treasurer Cindy Cebula, center, and Deputy Treasurer Amanda Repke on Friday. Both women had friends and family in the courtroom to celebrate the occasion.

ALPENA — In November, voters in Alpena County elected Cindy Cebula to serve as the new county treasurer and, on Friday, she took her oath of office in the circuit court in Alpena.

The oath of office was administered by 26th Circuit Court Judge Ed Black.

Cebula, who has worked in the Treasurer’s Office since 2017 and was named chief deputy treasurer in 2019, worked side-by-side with longtime former treasurer Kim Ludlow, learning how to run the office, fulfill its responsibilities, and monitor the county’s finances.

The treasurer does not set the county budget, but makes recommendations about county spending and provides updates to the county Board of Commissioners, which creates the budget with the help of the county administrator.

Cebula said the treasurer and her staff have a lot more responsibility than just monitoring revenues and expenses. She said she will also oversee the budgets of all of the funds created by countywide property taxes, oversee the county’s landbank, control delinquent tax collection and property foreclosures, and balance and maintain county accounts and investments with financial institutions.

Cebula said that, over the last handful of years, she has been exposed to a lot of ins and outs of the office under Ludlow and she believes she has a good grasp on operations and her duties.

“I was exposed to every aspect of this office, and I have a good working relationship with the commissioners, which will help,” she said. “We have a strong open door policy, and they stop in and they are always available to us.”

The county began its fiscal year on Wednesday with a balanced budget after County Administrator Jesse Osmer and commissioners used a combination of job cuts and money from other funds to overcome a budget shortfall of about $1 million.

Cebula said that is a good start to strengthening the county’s finances, but there is still much work to do.

She said her goal is to continue to recommend ways for commissioners to solidify the budget and increase revenue.

Cebula described the county’s finances as “OK,” but added the county still has hills to climb.

“I want to keep things moving forward and maybe streamline some other things,” she said. “I would prefer not to take on any more debt and dig ourselves a deeper hole. We can’t afford any more debt payments.”

Cebula will count on Amanda Repke, who will serve as her deputy treasurer.

The county will also hire another employee to round out the three-employee staff in the Treasurer’s Office.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@TheAlpenaNews.com. Follow him on X @ss_alpenanews.com.