Published 3:00 pm Monday, October 5, 2026
Cam Sparks (left) and Jana Cain (right)
(Courtesy/Jana Cain and Cam Sparks)
| Getting your Trinity Audio player ready… |
Two Deschutes County finance employees are running against each other for the office of Deschutes County Treasurer.
Current officeholder, Bill Kuhn, is not running for reelection. Deschutes County chief financial officer Robert Tintle withdrew from the race and resigned from his position because he moved out of the county. His last day as chief financial officer was Sept. 9.
A county treasurer acts as a CFO, overseeing and safeguarding public funds while also calculating, billing and collecting taxes. Both candidates said, if elected, they would continue in their current jobs for the county and add the treasurer’s duties. The county treasurer’s annual salary is $80,479.
Jana Cain
Jana Cain, 40, is currently the controller for Deschutes County’s finance department. She has overseen payroll, accounting and financial reporting for the county since 2021. Originally from Texas, she moved to Bend in 2016 from Eugene. She has an MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas.
“I’ve always been a numbers person,” she said. “I was an auditor for 10 years … I just thought it was fascinating to be a part of.”
She was drawn to government finance after working on those audits and seeing how local government initiatives impacted people’s day-to-day lives.
In 2022, the county’s Chief Financial Officer, who was also the treasurer, resigned. The county split the job between two people. Cain wants to bring that role back internally to the county finance office.
“I want to bring that back inside, because I think we already have the infrastructure to handle it,” she said. “It’s been great having an external treasurer, and he’s done a wonderful job, but to be able to save the $100,000 a year and put it back into county services, I just think it’s operationally efficient, and where I’d like to see us go.”
For both her and her competitor, the county treasurer duties would be added to their current jobs, she said. Neither plans to resign from their county jobs.
Cain wants to seek feedback from the public and the county’s investment advisory committee on how to make monthly reports more transparent. She recently attended the Oregon Association of County Treasurers and Finance Officers Conference. She feels strongly about protecting public funds, managing the county’s investments and being transparent about where the money’s going.
“As an auditor, I got to experience the Fortune 500 company where everything is as pristine as you can imagine in a finance world,” she said. “I’ve worked with the mom-and-pop shop that has one bookkeeper that may know what debit and credit is, but maybe not. It’s just being able to adjust and understand what needs are and understand what good internal control looks like and what a good financial environment looks like.”
Cain is a member of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Oregon board, and has served for nine years.
“I was part of the team of board members that turned that organization around financially,” she said. “Their reputation has recovered and they’re doing so much better than they were in the past. It’s important to serve your community in different ways and give back where you can.”
Cam Sparks
Cam Sparks, 48, was named the chief financial officer for the county on Monday, said officials.
Deputy County Administrator Erik Kropp said her education and experience with the county, City of Bend and Port of Portland all stood out during the hiring process.
She was the budget and financial planning manager for the county for the past two years. She has an MBA and has worked at tech startups and nonprofits. She started her career in government finance 17 years ago at the Port of Portland.
Sparks and her family moved to Bend in 2016, and she was the budget and financial planning manager for the city of Bend for three years before moving over to the county. As budget and financial planning manager, she leads the development of the county’s $800-million-plus budget, manages long-term financial planning, and helps leaders make finance decisions.
“I like finance because it’s a good combination of analytical problem solving, but also organizational impact,” she said. “I really enjoy helping people make informed decisions by taking complex financial information and turning that into a clear picture of the different options and the risks and the trade-offs.”
That’s important in the public sector, she said, because financial planning supports “reliable services, transparency and overall responsible stewardship of public resources.”
Sparks decided to run for treasurer to use her financial experience for the county. She wants to make sure the county receives a good return on investment for its funds, while balancing risks and making sure the county has enough cash on hand.
Every month, the county pays $8 million in payroll. The county has historically done a good job of checking funds and making payments, she said, though she would streamline the monthly reporting process with a business intelligence tool.
Ultimately, she said, her strength is her 17 years of experience in the field, and specifically seven years working in finance in Deschutes County.
About Noemi Arellano-Summer
Noemi Arellano-Summer is schools, youth and families reporter at the Bulletin. She previously reported on homelessness and the 2020 MA eviction moratorium with the Howard Center of Investigative Journalism through Boston University. She was raised in Long Beach, California, where she started her journalism career reporting for her high school newspaper. In her free time, she can be found meandering through a bookstore or writing short stories.
She can be reached at noemi.arellano-summer@bendbulletin.com and 541-383-0325.
