Henry County Tax Commissioner David Curry has been named State Revenue Commissioner by Gov. Brian Kemp and will take office next week.
He has served Henry County just over 10 years and is midway through his third term in office, having first been elected in 2008. Curry will succeed outgoing revenue commissioner Lynne Riley, who was appointed by Kemp to serve as state treasurer.
“Quality leadership at the Department of Revenue is vital to the continued success of the Peach State,” said Kemp. “David’s wealth of experience and significant accomplishments make him an ideal fit as we reform state government and work to put Georgians first.”
Curry is scheduled to be sworn in May 14.
“I heard there might be a change [at the state level], so I threw my name in the hat,” he said Friday in an interview with the Times just hours after Kemp’s office made the official announcement.
He interviewed with a committee and said he has no idea how many others were interviewed. But he was called in a second time, and when ultimately asked if he would take the job, he said yes without hesitation.
“I was very excited to even be considered,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
As for the transition in the Henry County Tax Commissioner’s office, the law provides for a chief deputy to fill the remainder of Curry’s term if such a staff member is trained and already in place. That person is Michael Harris, former longtime county department head and Stockbridge city manager who was hired by Curry about a month ago. He will served until the end of 2020, which was Curry’s term length, and if he wishes to continue he can qualify like any other candidate.
Curry will take over a department with 1,100 total employees and 11 regional offices in places such as Gainesville, Cartersville, Augusta, Savannah, Albany and Douglas. The Department of Revenue collected $22.7 billion last year according to its annual report, an increase of $1 billion over 2017.
In Henry County the past decade, Curry has led the Tax Commissioner’s Office to focus on customer service and implement a number of improvements for a process that can be bothersome and tiring for the average taxpayer.
Tax bills and tag renewals can be done online. Henry County was the first in the state to install kiosks for tag renewals, placing two such machines at area Kroger stores in Ellenwood and McDonough. Now about 30 counties offer them, Curry said.
If you have to go to the tag office in person, you can check the website before leaving home to see how long the wait might be. Webcams in the lobbies of the McDonough and Stock-bridge locations show the lines at any given time.
“A lot things we introduced – new technologies, new efficiencies – were designed to better serve customers,” said Curry, whose office has won the prestigious Oglethorpe Award for its demonstrated efficiency in operations.
Under his leadership, Henry County became the first tax commissioner’s office in Georgia to be recognized for its efforts in performance excellence with the Georgia Focus Recognition Award. Curry is also a recipient of the Henry County Board of Education’s Bridge Award for his work connecting schools with the community.
He is involved in many organizations, including the Constitutional Officers Association Georgia, Georgia Association of Tax Officials, and Tax Commissioners’ Technology Development Council of Georgia where he served as president from 2011 to 2013.
He began his career with Ford Motor Company at 18 years of age. At Ford, he became Six Sigma Certified and participated in a four-year apprenticeship to train as an industrial electrician, later being selected as the liaison between Ford and the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers (UAW) as a Skilled Trades Overtime Coordinator where he coordinated and scheduled more than 320 employees. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Mercer University and a master’s degree from Georgia State University.
One big change with the new position is a lengthy commute, as the DOR’s headquarters are north of downtown near I-85 and Clairmont Road. But he is also preparing to crisscross the state and familiarize himself with all of the department’s offices. “I look forward to meeting as many of the staff members as I can, trying to relay our message – which is service,” he said. “There are opportunities for improvement in every organization and I will be looking everywhere for those.”
