KNOX — Elizabeth Walk is running unopposed for tax collector in Knox.
She has worked as the town’s assistant tax collector for the past three years.

Walk, 72, has lived in Knox since 1981. She has a degree in accounting from Albany Business College.

“I helped my husband run his trucking business for years,” she said. “I was his bookkeeper and accountant.”

She will replace Democrat Diane Champion who won the post in 2011, replacing longtime tax collector Delia Palombo, also a Democrat, who retired at age 89. Champion did not seek re-election.

Walk, who said she is a lifelong Democrat, is not running on the Democratic line.  Asked why she chose the Republican line, she said, “They chose me.”

“I don’t believe in strict parties,” said Walk. “I believe in voting for the people.”

She said of her enrollment with the Democrats, “Back then, in Albany County, you had to be a Democrat.”

Like her other GOP-backed running mates, Walk also has the Conservative and Independence party lines for the Nov. 5 election.

Asked about her goals in her upcoming job, Walk said her major goal is already underway. “I wanted people to be able to pay their taxes online,” she said.

Under the current system, it is particularly difficult for “snowbirds,” residents who go to Florida for part of the year, Walk said.

“We have to send their tax bills by mail — if they remember to tell us,” she said.

By the time she takes office on Jan. 1, Walk said, “It will all be updated” so that residents can pay their taxes online.