John M. Allen
The Maricopa County Treasurer is responsible for collecting all real and personal property taxes for over 1700 tax districts that include state, county, incorporated cities and towns, schools, community colleges, and special districts; and then distributing those funds to those tax districts.
Thirty-six years ago, John Allen made Arizona his home. Raised in Long Island, New York, as one of five children, he learned the value of hard work and enterprise working for the family's truck and heavy equipment dealership. Married for 38 years now, he and Tina believe they are rich in the things that matter. They have three grown sons and five grandchildren, good friends, a church they love and a neighborhood they call home.
With a BA degree in Business from ASU, John has worked many jobs, including construction, ground operations at an airline, sales and as a small business owner. Tina worked for Maricopa County for 31 years before she retired. Like most of the working middle class, they have to budget and plan for the things they need, the things they want and the things they share.
First elected to the legislature in 2002, after a friend talked him into running, John served 11 years in the Arizona House of Representatives. In that time, he has been the Chairman of the following committees: Audit Committee, Banking and Insurance, Children and Family Affairs, and currently is the Judiciary chair. He was the Republican Majority Leader for 2017 and 2018. He has served with six Speakers of the House and three Governors. Through hard work, perseverance and a willingness to study and understand the issues facing this state, he has become a leader in our community.
John's Accomplishments
One of John’s many responsibilities as a legislator was to serve as the Chairman of the Audit Committee for four years. The Arizona Auditor General is a direct employee of the State Legislature and through the audit process they assure the taxpayers that appropriated monies are spent as directed. One of John’s key objectives over his tenure was to strengthen the Fraud division of the AG's office. Over the past four years, they doubled the size of the Fraud division and improved prosecution and recovery. John believes this commitment to accountability will serve him well in the role of County Treasurer.
During his time as Chairman of Children and Family Services, John worked closely with the newly created Department of Children Services to reduce caseloads for DCS caseworkers from 60 to 14 per caseworker. John also worked to strengthen kinship care and add safeguards for families in turmoil. This was not only done through funding, but through improved process management and a dedicated plan to reduce the backlog. He believes in the philosophy that we can always be improving our procedures and he loves to think outside the box for new ways to tackle old problems.
One of John’s passions has been his work with the developmentally disabled. While working on their issues and carefully evaluating the programs that receive state funding, John became committed to seeing that the House of Representatives act on its principles and employ members of this community at the Arizona House. Today they have two developmentally disabled adults as members of their Page staff, who make the coffee and help manage our recycled paper program. This effort at inclusion has been far more beneficial for the House staff members than just its intended goal of providing work for this disenfranchised community. John will continue his effort to see where the County could include members of the developmentally disabled community in its workforce.
