Former Wayne County Deputy Treasurer & Career Political Appointee David Szymanski Wants His Old Job This Time As The Official Wayne County Treasurer

With the announcement earlier this week by long time Wayne County Treasurer Raymond Wojtowicz that he was retiring ahead of next year’s election, former Deputy Treasurer, David Szymanski has been schmoozing the political elites of Wayne County for his job back now that the 86 year old Wojtowicz is officially stepping down.

Wojtowicz, a former mayor of Hamtramck became treasurer in August of 1976 as Wayne County and Detroit began it decline from the Arsenal Democracy into post-industrial wasteland.

As anyone who ever had dealings with the Wayne County Treasurer’s Office can tell you, David Szymanski who had been Wojtowicz’s loyal deputy before retiring September 1st, ran the Treasurer’s Office because of Wojtowicz dismal attendance record. Sources at Way County say that Wojtowicz has only been seen in the Treasurer’s office no more than five times a month since Szymanski became his Deputy Treasurer in 2010.

David Szymanski has spent nearly his entire adult life on the Wayne County payroll. Before becoming Deputy Treasurer to Wojtowicz, Szymanski served as a Wayne County Probate judge for nearly 20 years.

David Szymanski has made no secret he wants to return to the Treasurer’s Office. He told Eric Lawrence of the Detroit Free Press that he would “love” to be the next treasurer, “Absolutely, I love the staff there so much and what we’ve been able to accomplish there over the last four years,”

The decision would be made by a committee made up of Chief Probate Judge Freddie Burton Jr., Clerk Cathy Garrett and Prosecutor Kym Worthy.

Wojtowicz and Szymanski came under fire in 2012 with their handling of the Wayne County tax auction and again 2013 with the inept way they handled the auction of the Packard Plant, the largest industrial ruin in the world.

The county allowed bidding for the contaminated 40 acre property that needs roughly $25 million in toxic waste cleanup to get as high as $6 million from a crackpot doctor out of Texas. The County eventually sold the property to Fernando Palazuelo, for $405,000 (25% of his final bid), a bankrupt Spaniard who fled to Peru to relaunch his real estate career after the financial crisis paralyzed the Spanish economy.

MFI-Miami has learned that Palazuelo hasn’t paid any taxes on the property since taking ownership in December, 2013 nor has he started any of the environmental cleanup that was required as part of the sale.