Hon. Kathleen McGuiness

Kathleen (Kathy) McGuiness was elected State Auditor in November 2018. When sworn into office, she became the first female State Auditor in Delaware history. As State Auditor, Kathy, a Certified Fraud Examiner, is responsible under Title 29 of Delaware Code for the auditing and reporting funds raised and spent by the State of Delaware annually. Kathy is a native Delawarean. For 16 years, she owned and operated 2 businesses in Rehoboth Beach, where she became an advocate for the revitalization of downtown, spurring its growth from a summer community to a year-round destination for tourists and full-time home for thousands. McGuiness was first elected to the Rehoboth City Council in 2000, where she served until 2018. McGuiness's oversight of the new Rehoboth City Hall saved hundreds of taxpayers thousands of dollars. Consistently as a commissioner, she fought waste, fraud and abuse and continuously advocated for efficiency, transparency and good government. Kathy is widely recognized as a leader and community advocate fighting for a more accountable and transparent Delaware. During her first 100 days in office, McGuiness optimized staffing and improved organizational efficiency in order to clear audit backlogs, enhance responsiveness, and improve the agency's overall functionality. McGuiness has brought audits back in-house, created a comprehensive risk assessment tool, and worked with the Offices of Inspector Generals to centralize state reports on their web portal. In 2021 alone, McGuiness released three reports identifying $110M in annual efficiency savings, government overspending and potential revenue sources. Given our 2021 $4.1M budget, that’s a Return on Investment of more than 26 times our annual budget. When she is not at the office, Kathy is often found volunteering and giving back to the com