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The Spencer County Auditor serves as the Chief Financial Officer, managing county funds, payroll, tax distributions, and property deductions.

Key Duties of the Auditor include:

• Accounting for all county funds
• Accounts Payable – Paying all county bills
• Payroll/Benefits – Paying county employees
• Tax distributions – Overseeing and disbursing county, city, town, library, and school tax distributions
• Property deductions, transfers, and splits

Joe Cook has served in leadership positions locally at both for-profit and non-profit entities. In his hometown of Evansville, Indiana, Joe served as the Director of Campus Ministry at the University of Evansville and as Coordinator of Catholic Campus Ministry in the diocese for the University of Southern Indiana and Vincennes University. After working at Saint Meinrad for 15 years as a fundraiser and an ongoing formation program coordinator, Joe served as an internal process auditor at Jasper Engines and Transmissions where he audited production processes to assure quality and dependability. Before taking early retirement, Joe was the Executive Director of the Evansville District of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, overseeing and supporting the operations of 18 parish-based conferences, a Thrift Store and a Food Pantry.

Yes and no. Mostly no. For county positions, voters are essentially “hiring” their employees. There are many requirements of elected government positions that depend upon an individual’s competency, accuracy of details, transparency and complete communication. County government employees depend upon being paid on time. Contractors need to be paid, but only after all the requirements are met. Taxpayer-funded municipalities and services need to receive their distributions accurately and on a timely basis. The county auditor assures that laws and processes are met before your taxpayer money is spent. Voting for county offices is a matter of hiring the individual who will make sure the job is done right and on time.

Yes. As a quality process auditor, Joe learned the necessary processes and requirements of auditing and will apply those to the processes of Spencer Counfy. As an Executive Director of a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, Joe worked with budgets and compliance issues. Joe holds a Bachelors of Arts in Communication from St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Indiana, a Masters of Arts in Catholic Theology from Saint Meinrad School of Theology, and a Masters of Science in Management and Leadership from Western Governors University.

Joe is a member of the St. Bernard (Rockport) / St. Martin I (Chrisney) conference of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul where he works alongside fellow members to meet the needs of those experiencing poverty. He has previously dedicated time to coaching youth soccer in North Spencer County and at Heritage Hills Middle School. He and his family are members of St. Martin Parish in Chrisney where he volunteers as a lector and cantor at Sunday services, and volunteers as the Master of Ceremonies at the parish’s annual summer social. As a side hobby, since late March of 2026, Joe has been travelling the state of Indiana visiting all 92 county courthouses.