Jul. 30, 2014:  Not only did new Village Treasurer Lori Voss "hit the ground running" when she assumed her duties this summer, she began formulating and working on projects before her first official day in the office.

Voss, a certified public accountant who received her undergraduate degree in English from Pennsylvania State University and her MBA in tax accounting from La Salle University in Philadelphia, comes to Bronxville from the Village of Mamaroneck, where she worked for over six years, first as an accountant and then as deputy treasurer.

She did not foresee a shift in her career path from commercial to municipal accounting until signs of a serious economic downturn began to appear in 2007. She lost her seven-year position as controller for CLI Fleet Inc., an auto-leasing firm in Rye. "We lost our office when our lessor predicted a depression and called in all its commercial facilities," Voss said. "Then the company was merged with another company and my job got merged out of existence."

Despite receiving offers to work as a controller for a restaurant chain and a manufacturing company only ten minutes from her house, Voss took stock of deteriorating economic conditions. "From a common sense standpoint," she said, "these weren't really the best industries to go into. I just didn't trust the economy."

When Voss saw the Village of Mamaroneck's ad in the newspaper seeking an accountant, she applied. "I figured, why not?" she said. She added that a village official advised that, given the economic downturn, a move to municipal accounting would be a good one.

"I started out at the bottom," Voss said, "but I caught on quickly." She did not find the transition to municipal accounting particularly daunting. "If you can pass the CPA exam, you can do a lot," she laughed.

"When you start out in a new job, there's a learning curve, no matter where you go," Voss said. She did the first thing any accountant would do on a new job to establish her bearings; she studied the prior year's financial statements and supporting work papers. "You work with what you have and then improvise. It really doesn't take much to get you from one place to another."

Voss arrived at Bronxville Village Hall in the midst of a computer conversion project and with her goal of establishing the village's capability to accept credit card payments for utility, permitting, and, possibly, property tax payments. She had already examined options for refunding two series of bonds to obtain more favorable interest rates and presented her recommendations to the board of trustees at its July 14 meeting.

"I've never seen an office like this," Voss said. "The people are remarkably friendly and genuine, and it's everyone." What makes her happiest to come to work every day? "All the things I know I have to do when I get here. It's actually hard to leave at night," she said.

Voss is a member of the American Institute of Certified Accountants and the New York Society of Certified Public Accountants. She also holds certification from the New York State Society of Municipal Finance Officers.

Pictured here:  Lori Voss, new village treasurer.

Photo by N. Bower