David A. Adams

Biography

David Adams became the youngest County Treasurer in South Carolina at the time he was elected in 2002. He believes that staying active in the community, and helping it improve, is the best way to meet the changing needs of Richland County taxpayers. From the beginning, his energy and efforts were immediately dedicated to creating a professional, friendly and fair Richland County Treasurer’s Office that helps people through the maze of government.

David was raised in Columbia and attended public schools, graduating from Irmo High School and The Citadel. He is married to Pamela (Deweese) Adams, Richland School District One School Board Member, and they have three children. They are active members of Shandon United Methodist Church in Columbia.

After college, David worked in Federal and State government before training with long-time State Treasurer Grady L. Patterson, Jr., for four years. Working at the State, David came to understand that government cannot serve its highest purpose when it continually spends more than what it can collect.

After working to create and publicize a number of programs to benefit the State of South Carolina (Competitive bids for state investments; FutureScholar for families saving for College Expenses, and Big Money Monday to return money held by the state to its rightful owners) David became the Richland County Treasurer.

As Richland County Treasurer, David has become the South Carolina trailblazer in expanding payment options to help people best meet their tax obligations, making government more efficient for Richland County’s citizens, and in finding the tax cheaters who cheat us all. As the County’s Chief Banker and Investment Officer, the County has yielded the three highest years of investment returns and the County’s Credit Rating has been increased twice by financial ratings agencies (saving tens of thousands of dollars for county borrowing).

• First and only County to offer installment payments of taxes.
• First County to use local banks as tax drop-off locations.
• First in Richland to offer internet payments and bank account draft options.
• First to partner with Sheriff to find car tax cheaters – finding $5 million in 5 years.
• First to enforce delinquent taxes on mobile homes – adding $800,000 per year.
• First in Midlands to partner with DMV to issue decals/registrations in the Treasurer’s Office.
• Largest 3 years of investment returns in history.
• First Treasurer in Richland County history to transmit financial data to decision makers on a monthly basis, including the first single ledger between Richland County Finance and the Richland County Treasurer’s Office.

David is the Vice President and Education co-Chair of the Association of Auditors, Treasurers and Tax Collectors (SCATT) to design curriculum to teach County Officials policy and legislative best-practices. He is also a member of the SCATT Legislative Committee pushing a number of tax payment and tax policy changes at the Statehouse. And, he is a part of the DMV Committee that fosters state/local cooperation.

Additional Accomplishments

• Devised first organizational chain-of-command to ensure taxpayer and department needs can be met at any time.
• Established drop-locations for tax payments at eight Synovus bank branches throughout Richland County.
• Negotiated with AllSouth Federal Credit Union to place an ATM at the Treasurer’s Office for added taxpayer convenience.
• Crafted new office procedures and polices to post and deposit payments on a more timely basis.
• Increased delinquent car tax collections 62% generating an additional $241,000 of revenue in 2004.
• Revised, standardized and consolidated banking relationships and fees saving thousands of dollars each year.
• Decreased individual tax payment transaction times from almost four minutes to two.
• Replaced Polaroid instant cameras with digital photography and software for delinquent taxpayer notification – saving $6,000 each year.
• Cut the costs of tax sale to taxpayers in half – from $138 to $70.
• Improved taxpayer notification resulting in a 28% drop in the number of properties sold at tax sale in 2004.
• Standardized personnel policies to have staff available to address taxpayer needs during all business hours.
• Designed office policies that follow the state and local laws we uphold to ensure that each tax payer is treated equally.

Additional Resources

Statement by Richland County Treasurer Adams on Censure of State Treasurer

Richland County Treasurer David Adams Named Association Vice President