300 Main Street, Suite 200, Dubuque, IA 52001
Mon – Thurs 8 am – 5 pm, Fri 8 am – 12 pm
Kevin Dragotto (D)
9900 Military Rd
Dubuque, IA 52003
(563) 581-1541
questions@kevinforauditor.com
Who?
My wife Erin and daughter Giuliana moved to Dubuque County in 2014. Previous employment includes positions as an accountant and general manager. In Dubuque, I worked for TFM Company as their controller. I am a US Army veteran. I was elected in 2020 to be your Dubuque County Auditor and in the last four years, I have expanded my knowledge of accounting,
finance, and project management through various continuing education programs and leadership trainings. I am one of fifteen people in the State that holds the CERA (Certified Elections Registration/Administrator) designation which is the highest level of elections certification available in the US.
Why?
My life is about service and the want to make where I call home a better place to live, work, and play. My military service taught me that while everyone is different, we have more in common than what separates up. I want to continue to grow the award-winning programs that I have created in elections, and I want to continue my transparency initiative which is very important to me. The auditors job sits right at the center of county government, touching all departments. I am qualified and experienced with working with all county departments. I work across party lines for the benefit of the citizens and business community.
What?
If re-elected to office, I will continue modernizing the way the county operates, streamlining processes, and finding ways to save money. In the last four years, my office has been able to reduce individual budget line items by updating our processes.
I will continue to work with state legislators to educate them on how the changes they make affect residents and businesses locally.
I will also push to have more cooperation with our cities in the county and offer our assistance where we can help.
I will also continue to expand the ways that the public interacts with their local government.
How you intend to represent the business community?
I can help the business community by continuing to educate them on how legislative changes surround taxation affect them locally. There are often very different messages from state and county legislators. Seeing some recent legislation that penalizes a county for growth needs to be brought to the forefront of the conversation on how changes in state legislature trickle down to Dubuque County. The state has massive surpluses, and I’d like some of those funds to be used to grow the business community in targeted areas. Additionally, I’d like to work with the state legislature to move towards more accessible lending to small businesses so they can get started. Finally, starting a business is just the beginning. Our business community needs support after the doors open, and locally we should be doing more to help maintain our current businesses.
What should the government’s role in business entail?
I believe that the governments role in business should be to support, supplement, and enhance – when asked or needed. Additionally, government should be performing business related tasks/needs that are necessary and not already being duplicated by business. At no point should the government compete with private/public enterprise. We should be there to do what the business community is unwilling or unable to do. Finally, governments role in business can be more beneficial by looking at successes across the county and modeling their internal structures to be more business friendly.
