BISMARCK – A Democratic lawmaker running for state treasurer wants to eliminate the office if he wins, a proposal that North Dakota voters have twice rejected in the past.

State Sen. Tim Mathern of Fargo filed his candidacy Monday, hoping to unseat Republican Kelly Schmidt, who is seeking a fourth term. Libertarian Eric Olson of Fargo also is running for the post.

Mathern said Tuesday he believes the duties of the treasurer's office can easily be split up between the Office of Management and Budget, Bank of North Dakota and state tax commissioner's office.

Mathern, who has served in the Senate since 1986, said if he wins he will introduce a bill to close the office and transfer its duties to other agencies.

"This is nothing against Kelly Schmidt," he said. "This is an issue of right-sizing government, of saving dollars so we can fund some other priorities."

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Schmidt noted that state voters have twice rejected ballot measures aimed at eliminating the treasurer's office, which requires a change to the state constitution.

"It's the will of the people," she said. "There's a checks-and-balances there, and the people have voted twice to retain it, and we have given them something to be proud of."

The Legislature placed constitutional measures on the ballot in both 1984 and 2000 to abolish the office. Fifty-seven percent of voters rejected the measure in 1984, and 52 percent rejected it in 2000, despite support from then-Gov. Ed Schafer, a Republican who said the office was no longer necessary. Democrat Kathi Gilmore was treasurer at the time.

Schmidt was elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2008 and 2012, receiving the largest percentage of the vote among GOP statewide candidates-66 percent-in her most recent win. She noted that Democrats had held the office for 20 years before she was first elected.

"There was a lot of cleanup that had to be done," she said.

With eight full-time positions, the treasurer's office is the smallest state agency led by an elected official.

Its approved budget for the 2015-17 biennium is $260 million, but only $1.8 million of that is for salaries and operating expenses. The rest is pass-through dollars for coal severance payments, township allocations and property tax relief, said Sheila Peterson, OMB's director of fiscal management.

Those figures don't reflect 4.05 percent budget cuts made to most state agencies in February to help offset a projected $1.07 billion revenue shortfall.

Schmidt said she has kept operating expenses in check during her tenure, with just a 1 percent increase in the operating line in the last decade.

"I don't know that to eliminate the office would definitely eliminate much," she said.

In addition to investing billions of dollars in tax revenue with the Bank of North Dakota or distributing it to political subdivisions, she noted the treasurer also serves on six boards: the Board of University and School Lands, State Investment Board, Teachers' Fund for Retirement Board, State Canvassing Board, State Historical Board and Board of Equalization.

Mathern said there are "a lot of people on those boards already."

The treasurer's current annual salary is $96,972.

Mathern, who lost a bid for governor in 2008 and is the director of public policy at Prairie St. John's hospital in Fargo, isn't up for re-election until 2018 and would have to resign his Senate seat if elected treasurer. He said if he wins and is successful at eliminating the office, he will likely run for the Senate again.