Public Trustee Tom Mowle had some interesting statistics in his quarterly report for April 2010. In addition to the good news that foreclosure starts and sales both seem to be dropping, Mowle also reported that he is sending a record amount of money back to the El Paso County general fund.

That should be good news for the cash-strapped county. But  it’s worth noting that most of the officials who head the county’s elected and non-elected offices are Republican. And Mowle’s a Democrat appointed to the post in 2008 by lame-duck Gov. Bill Ritter.

In the November election,  Mowle will be facing off against term-limited commissioner Wayne Williams to become the county’s next clerk and recorder. Williams, a lawyer,  has strong support in the Republican Party.

Mowle’s job performance is impressive. For the first quarter of 2010, he’ll be sending $313,125.24 back to the county. That’s almost equal to the entire amount returned to the county’s general fund in 2009.

Mowle credits the savings to a number of factors, including a good website, the increased use of electronic transmissions, which saves on postage and paper, and a more productive staff.

When he joined the office, Mowle said there were security cameras pointed at virtually every desk. He removed them.   ”I can’t believe they were good for morale,” he said. “I thought they were incredibly insulting and intrusive.”