Tim Dietz vs Dan Smith: Who Is Running for Douglas County Treasurer, and What the Job Actually Is

Most people meet the Douglas County Treasurer once a year, in January, when the property tax statement shows up. That is the job in one envelope, and it is on your ballot this fall with two names most voters have never heard. Here is who they are.

What the treasurer actually does

Less than you think and more than you would guess. Per the county's own description, the office bills and collects property taxes based on the assessor's valuations, then distributes the money to approximately 300 taxing authorities that certify mill levies here: the county itself, the school district, the towns, and a long tail of metro, fire, water and library districts. The school district typically gets about half of a given bill. The office also manages the county's banking relationships, processes nearly all county deposits, and oversees the county's investment portfolio within the limits Colorado law sets.

What the treasurer does not do: set your tax rate, set your home's value, or decide how the money is spent. Mill levies come from each district's board, valuations from the assessor (also on this ballot), and spending from the commissioners. A treasurer candidate promising to lower your taxes is promising something the office cannot deliver. What a treasurer can do is invest idle public money well or badly, make the bill easy or hard to understand, and be helpful or rigid when a homeowner falls behind.

Tim Dietz, Republican

Dietz is the sitting Castle Rock town councilmember for District 6, first elected in 2020 and re-elected in November 2024, and he won the Republican primary over Meghann Silverthorn, 61 to 39. His campaign describes him as "a family man, a person of faith, and a Republican who believes in limited government and responsible management of public funds," running under the line "Trusted. Conservative. Ready to Serve."

His three stated priorities are fiscal responsibility ("ensuring every taxpayer dollar is accounted for and managed with the highest standards of integrity and transparency"), accountable and accessible records, and taxpayer stewardship, meaning protection for property owners and prudent county investments. His site's about page says he has made executive-level financial decisions and managed budgets, points to his council record (the Crystal Valley Interchange, founding the Castle Rock Youth Commission), and states an investing standard of "safety first, liquidity second, and yield third." It names no employer and lists no endorsements. If you see him at a forum, the employer is the thing to ask.

Dan Smith, Democrat

Smith's pitch is the mirror image: all resume. His campaign says he spent more than 20 years in corporate finance at major U.S. banks and brokerages, oversaw half-billion-dollar budgets, and enforced ethical and legal compliance for financial advisors. Before that: teacher, work for the FBI, and founding what his site calls Southeast Asia's first hospital-based child sexual abuse treatment center, in Manila. He has lived in the county 18 years, is married with two teenagers, referees and coaches youth sports, and has spent the last eight years advising the Douglas County School District board on two committees: as co-chair of the Fiscal Oversight Committee, which oversees more than $300 million in bond reserves and fund balance investments, and on the Mill Bond Oversight Committee.

His core promise is a transparency one: "Douglas County residents and taxpayers deserve to know how their property taxes compare to each other and where their property taxes go." He argues the treasurer's job should be treated as nonpartisan and filled on qualifications. His tagline: "Expertise you can trust. Fiscally accountable. Unmistakably transparent."

How to think about it

This is the rare race where both candidates are promising the same thing (transparency and careful stewardship) and the real difference is what they are asking you to trust. Dietz asks you to trust his values and his record in local elected office. Smith asks you to trust his professional background in finance and compliance. Neither has published a specific plan for the county's investment portfolio, which is the one part of the job where a treasurer's judgment is worth real money. Dietz states a safety, liquidity, yield standard; Smith points to his years at Schwab and Morgan Stanley, his bond-reserve oversight for the school district, and a proposed "Tax Transparency Tool."

The politics are simple. Republicans have held the county's row offices as a matter of course, and a down-ballot office with no controversy attached usually follows party registration. But in a county where unaffiliated voters are now a majority, a candidate with a finance resume arguing that the office should not be partisan is making the only argument a Democrat can make for this job, and it is not a bad one. The question is whether enough voters get this far down the ballot with an open mind.

The one question we would put to both: where is the county's money invested today, what did it earn last year, and what would you change?

More: every race on your ballot and the full November ballot guide. We will add campaign finance totals when the next reports post. Campaigns can send corrections to hello@discoverdougco.com.