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2026 General Election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026

Steuben County Surveyor

Voted on across Steuben County.

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What this office does

The county surveyor is an elected county officer created by the Indiana Constitution. The surveyor keeps the county's land survey records and corners and is the technical authority on regulated drains; a surveyor who is a civil engineer plans and supervises the county's surveying and engineering work [1, 2, 3].

The job in full — the duties the Indiana Code puts in it, the term, what it pays and who sets that, and what to ask a candidate.

Term
4 years [1]
Term limit
None; the constitutional eight-in-twelve limit does not apply to the surveyor [1]
Qualifications
Must have lived in the county for at least one year before the election, be registered to vote in the county by the filing deadline, and file a statement of economic interests [4]
Pay and staff
Set by the county council, which also fixes the number of deputies and employees; the officer files a budget estimate each summer [5, 6]
On the 2026 ballot
29 counties; 1 contested (more candidates, including write-ins, than seats) [7]
What the law puts in this job (3)
  • If a competent civil engineer, plans and supervises all surveying and civil engineering work of the county under the direction of the commissioners [2].
  • Is the technical authority on the construction, reconstruction and maintenance of regulated drains and a nonvoting member of the county drainage board [3].
  • Keeps the county's survey records and land corners [2].

Steuben County's numbers for this office

Legal Insights county office research (Oct. 13, 2026): Indiana Gateway budgets 2019-2026 and the indicator sources linked on each line.

This office's 2026 budget

$303,583

0.8% of the county's adopted 2026 budget · 150% more than 2019, before inflation

2019: $121,4822020: $134,4062021: $138,5242022: $234,2952023: $224,0782024: $228,0162025: $205,6912026: $303,583
2019 $121,4822026 $303,583
The year-by-year figures

Adopted budget, all funds, 2019-2026 (not adjusted for inflation)

  • 2019: $121,482
  • 2020: $134,406
  • 2021: $138,524
  • 2022: $234,295
  • 2023: $224,078
  • 2024: $228,016
  • 2025: $205,691
  • 2026: $303,583

Budget lines counted: 0006 COUNTY SURVEYOR; fund 9513 Surveyors Corner Perpet

Adopted 2026 county budget (Form 1 line items, Form 4B) and earlier years' budgets

Elected official's pay, 2026 budget line

$41,086

From the county budget; verify against the county's 2026 salary ordinance. A line can include longevity pay or a second role.

Budgeted separately, not included above: drainage board (dept 0063), $18,400.

  • Includes $89,000 in funds named for the office (for example a commissary or perpetuation fund) that are not coded to its department.

Also on the record for this office

  • public GIS/parcel viewer: Schneider Geospatial (Beacon)
  • GIS budget 2026 (all departments): 1000

About this race

  • The county lists Jim Slabaugh as the current officeholder; Jim Slabaugh is not a candidate for this office in 2026 [8, 7].
  • Only one candidate is on the ballot for this office [7].

Candidates on the ballot

Colt L Ridenour

Republican

Colt L Ridenour is the Republican nominee [9].

How Ridenour got on the ballot

  • Won the May 5, 2026 Republican primary with 2,924 votes, ahead of Jim Slabaugh (1,661) [9].

What we could not find about Ridenour

  • No campaign website, candidate questionnaire, news interview or biography was found in free sources as of Oct. 13, 2026.

Sources for Ridenour

Key points

Sources

Researched Tuesday, October 13, 2026

  1. Constitution of the State of Indiana, Article 6, Section 2 (quoted in the 2026 Candidate Guide) (Indiana Election Division)
  2. Indiana Code 36-2-12-8: Surveyor; duties (Indiana General Assembly (2026 Indiana Code))
  3. Indiana Code 36-9-27-29: County surveyor; regulated drains (Indiana General Assembly (2026 Indiana Code))
  4. 2026 Indiana Candidate Guide (County Offices) (Indiana Election Division)
  5. Indiana Code 36-2-5-3: County fiscal body; compensation and positions (Indiana General Assembly (2026 Indiana Code))
  6. Indiana Code 36-2-5-5: Officers' budget estimates (Indiana General Assembly (2026 Indiana Code))
  7. 2026 General Election Candidate List (Indiana Election Division)
  8. Surveyor (Steuben County, Indiana)
  9. 2026 Primary Election results (certified), Indiana Election Night Reporting (Indiana Election Division)
What's included
the U.S. House, statewide offices, every Indiana House and Senate district on the ballot, Indiana's statewide public questions and judicial retention questions, and county, township, city, town and school board races from the Indiana Election Division's candidate list.
Everything else
Local races (county, city, school board, judges) and anything else on your ballot are on your official sample ballot: IndianaVoters.in.gov.
Candidate lists
As of Sunday, October 18, 2026.
At the polls
Indiana law lets you bring a list of candidates and public questions into the polling place, including one stored on your phone, as long as you don't electioneer. IC 3-11-8-18.5

This is not an official ballot. Confirm your registration, polling place and ballot with your election office through vote.gov.