The Indiana state auditor is changing the name of its office. It will now be known as the state comptroller, to better reflect what the position does.
The state auditordoesn’t do any auditing. State and local governments are audited by the State Board of Accounts and individuals are audited by the Indiana Department of Revenue.
That’s been a problem for current Indiana Auditor Tera Klutz, who talked about the issue back during her re-election campaign last year.
“I do spend a lot of my time explaining what I do before somebody can have an engaging conversation about how I can, maybe, be of service to them or help them,” Klutz said.
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What the office does is pay the state’s bills and employees. It’s also responsible for dispersing county, city, town and school tax revenues.
The office’s title-change to state comptroller will take effect July 1. That will include the state website, forms and documents. The change was made via a provision in the new state budget.
However, lawmakers did not take steps to change the state constitution, will which still refer to the title as auditor.
Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.