Clukey Running to Give Voters a Better Choice
Submitted by Candidate
Conservative Republican Leslie D. Clukey is running for Clinton County Treasurer in the November 4, 2025 General Election and is listed first on the ballot.
After the incumbent won the Republican ballot slot in May, Clukey decided to run under the Democrat ticket to give all voters a better choice and put her strong work ethic, competence, honesty, and reputation for getting things done accurately and on time to work to benefit the people of Clinton County.
“I am not a politician. I consider myself a public servant who will use my decades of financial experience, bookkeeping knowledge, organizational and management skills to competently serve as County Treasurer. When elected, I will be in the office fulltime every day and will work hard to reorganize the office to ensure that good, efficient financial practices and procedures are put in place to get the County Treasurer’s Office operating in an accurate and timely manner and to its fullest potential.” said Clukey.
Clukey noted that her campaign manager made many Right-to-Know requests to obtain information about the current operation of the County Treasurer’s Office under incumbent Michelle “Mick” Kunes.
“Several deficiencies were discovered that I intend to resolve when elected. These include Untimely Bank Reconciliations for the past two years which have “negatively impacted the County’s ability to initiate, record, and process financial data reliably and requires time consuming adjustments to the County’s ledger for transactions that were not properly booked during the year,” said Clukey. (Source: Zelenkofske Axelrod LLC Audit Finding for fiscal Year 2023, Page 19; and Zelenkofske Axelrod LLC Audit Finding for fiscal Year 2024, Page 21).
Clukey also stated that she finds it inexcusable that the Treasurer’s Office has not implemented a Five Point Corrective Action Plan to address Zelenkofske Axelrod LLC audit “Finding 2023-001- Bank Reconciliation” outlined in a September 25, 2024 memo signed by the three County Commissioners and County Treasurer which was to be implemented by December 31, 2024.
Another deficiency issue discovered through RTK requests about the operation of the current Treasurer’s Office centers on untimely notices for County Real Estate Taxes which have caused lost revenues for Clinton County.
During the October 2, 2025, County Commissioners Meeting, concern was expressed about the handling of a recent county real estate tax upset sale because the County Treasurer, who also serves as Tax Claim Director, had not sent out notices in a timely manner. As a result, a number of properties were not able to be offered at the upset sale which resulted in a loss of revenue for the County and that those properties will generate no tax revenue for another year. Commissioner Snyder noted that “this loss of revenue could result in the county having to raise taxes, and that’s not something the commissioners wish to do.” (Source: The Record, Page A1 and A5, Thursday, October 9, 2025; Clinton County Government October 2 Meeting, Facebook Online.)
This is not a new issue because the Clinton County Upset Tax Sales of properties held on September 18, 2023, was voided and a Court Order was issued that required the County Treasurer to “refund the proceeds of said sales to the successful bidders” because the Treasurer had failed to satisfy the thirty-day legal requirement of advanced notification in two newspapers. That error resulted in the loss of almost $200,000 in revenues for the County and did not include the considerable tax dollars spent to advertise, print posters, send certified mailers to owners of the delinquent real estate properties, or overtime payroll costs by sheriff’s deputies to post the properties. (Source: Opinion and Order No. 1078-2023, Court of Common Pleas of Clinton County, Pennsylvania; and Clinton County Treasurer’s Report, February 2024, Page 16, Delinquent Tax Fund Checking Account – M&T/Woodlands.)
“After election to office, I will address and work to remedy these key inefficiencies. I promise that your vote for Leslie D. Clukey on Tuesday, November 4, 2025, will result in a) an efficiently and competently run Treasurer’s Office with all reports, bank reconciliations, tax sale matters, and other Treasurer Office business completed correctly and on time; b) staff that are well-trained to carry out the duties of their jobs and better serve the public; c) generating income to help prevent tax increases; and d) monthly Treasurer Reports during a Commissioners Meeting to be transparent and accountable to the people of Clinton County,” Clukey said.
