Scott Fitzpatrick was sworn in as Missouri's 39th State Auditor on January 9th, 2023. He is currently the youngest statewide officeholder in the United States. Before being elected as the Missouri State Auditor, Scott served as the 47th Missouri State Treasurer from 2019 until 2023 and as a member of the Missouri House of Representatives from 2013-2019, the last two years of which were as the chairman of the House Budget Committee.
As State Auditor, he serves as Missouri's taxpayer watchdog, making sure government at all levels is efficient, effective, and transparent. He is committed to rooting out fraud in government and ensuring those who are responsible for stealing taxpayer funds are held accountable for their actions. Scott has emphasized the need to closely scrutinize the dramatic increase in state and local government spending that has resulted from the trillions of dollars allocated by the federal government in response to COVID-19. He has committed his office to thoroughly reviewing how these tax dollars have been spent to identify any waste, misappropriation, or fraud that has taken place.
As the son of a teacher and the father of four young boys, Scott believes providing a quality education for the next generation of Missourians is the state's most important job. One of his primary goals as State Auditor is to ensure the billions of dollars appropriated for Missouri's schools each year are being spent effectively, and are being used to prepare young people for success in the workforce or in pursuit of a college education. Despite the fact that state funding to the 516 public school districts represents the second largest expenditure of taxpayer money in the state, previous State Auditors have averaged just over one school district audit annually over the last 15 years. As State Auditor, Scott has prioritized school audits with the goal of improving school performance and ensuring parents are well informed on how their money is being spent to prepare their kids for future success.
Prior to his tenure as State
Auditor, Scott served as State Treasurer where his record reflects his
commitment to fiscally conservative values as well as his support for small
businesses and Missouri families. In his first two years in office, he doubled
the size of MO ABLE, Missouri's savings and investment program for individuals
with disabilities and their families. Scott also worked to make MOST, Missouri's
529 Education Plan, more cost-effective for account owners by negotiating lower
fees. Under his leadership, the plan became one of the highest rated in the
country.
During his service as Treasurer,
Scott returned record amounts of Unclaimed Property to Missourians. He became
the fastest Treasurer in state history to return $1 million, doing so in just
his first nine days in office. In addition, he launched innovative partnerships
with the Department of Social Services and the Department of Labor and
Industrials Relations Division of Employment Security to help reunite
Missourians with their Unclaimed Property. The partnership with the Department
of Social Services produced an
automated system to match past-due child support cases with the Unclaimed
Property database. This partnership returned nearly $4.5 million to Missouri
families.
While
Treasurer, Scott also worked with the Missouri Housing Development
Commission to improve transparency and efficiency within the low-income
housing tax credit program. He implemented significant reforms including a
scoring rubric used to grade all applications for public support, which enables
comparison of approved and unapproved projects. The rubric prioritizes projects
that delivers the most cost effective housing, while meeting quality standards.
He also championed a distribution schedule for the tax credits, which significantly
increased their value. Because of his efforts, each dollar of tax credits now delivers
more affordable housing without spending more taxpayer money.
As Treasurer, Scott worked to
promote government transparency and efficiency at all levels of government. Under
his leadership, the office expanded the Show-Me Checkbook, one of the most
comprehensive state financial data portals in the country, to include local
governments.
Before his service as a statewide
elected official, Scott served three terms in the Missouri House of
Representatives. He was first elected State Representative in 2012, at the age
of 25, to represent Barry and portions of Stone and Lawrence counties. Serving
as Chairman of the House Budget Committee in 2017 and 2018, he was responsible
for the drafting and passage of Missouri’s $28 billion annual operating budget.
Under Scott’s conservative leadership, the State’s budget surplus nearly
tripled to almost $500 million, while Missouri schools were fully funded for
the first time in nearly a decade.
Scott understands the needs of
Missouri’s business-owners. As a teenager in 2003, Scott started his own
company, MariCorp U.S., a Shell Knob-based marine manufacturing and
construction company that does business coast-to-coast. His experience growing
his company inspired him to run for office to fight unnecessary red tape and
burdensome regulations.
He is a member of the Cassville
and Shell Knob Chambers of Commerce and has been recognized in Springfield
Business Journal’s “40 under 40” and was a 2020 Man of the Year.
A lifelong Missourian, Scott graduated from Cassville High School and the University of Missouri. He and his wife Mallory have four sons, Luke, Carson, Noah, and Henry.
