News-Press.com | Sawyer Smith June 2, 2014
It's budget season in Lee County. It's the annual ritual in which the county's staff, special interests, interested citizens and, hopefully, our commissioners jockey amongst themselves to fund their priorities and projects.
Newspapers write about impact fee debates, the Conservation 20/20 program and other parts and pieces of the budget.
Sadly though, the debate usually doesn't include a thoughtful, methodical and critical look at the budget overall. That is to say, a holistic look at our local priorities and funding needs, the taxes, fees, and other revenue that the county collects, let alone innovative ways for the county to create new efficiencies in how we do business and enhance the productivity of our resources.
The current budget process largely ignores the way we tax our citizens and spend their money, and how we deliver key services at a price we can afford.
In the private sector, successful organizations engage in a deliberative process to review the performance of business units and implement innovative improvements that will drive success. They frequently utilize outside experts to audit their financial statements in order to provide the highest possible degree of confidence for investors, shareholders, and others and to ensure that every penny is properly accounted for.
The notion of improving performance by methodically reviewing complex programs shouldn't be limited to the private sector. Lee County should embrace this concept and hire outside experts and auditors to review how the county conducts business. The new knowledge, transparency and efficiencies that are likely to be gained by these efforts would no doubt give taxpayers significantly increased confidence in how their tax dollars are used.
Certainly, the Lee County clerk of court's office does an effective job in carrying out one of its missions by conducting internal financial audits. But these compliance audits are fundamentally different than outside performance and accounting audits.
Over the past 20 years, Lee County's population has doubled. The complexity of formulating policy and delivering world-class service has increased. If Lee County is to set a long-term sustainable path for our children and grandchildren, we need to change the fundamental ways in which the county does business. That is if we truly want to be able to develop and implement innovative policies that help us successfully manage the challenges of preserving our environment, building new homes and places of business, revitalizing areas that need redevelopment, and attracting and retaining good jobs, great employers and a talented and creative workforce.
That starts by supplementing the hard work of the Lee County clerk's office and others with outside experts to conduct a truly independent performance review and financial audit of our county. Then, and only then, will we be able to ensure that we have the best, most efficient and highest productive policies and services in place and that we are operating a local government that is lean, efficient, and responsive to its communities.
Sawyer Smith is a Fort Myers-based attorney and small-business owner. He is a candidate for the Lee County commission, District 4.
It's budget season in Lee County. It's the annual ritual in which the county's staff, special interests, interested citizens and, hopefully, our commissioners jockey amongst themselves to fund their priorities and projects.
Newspapers write about impact fee debates, the Conservation 20/20 program and other parts and pieces of the budget.
Sadly though, the debate usually doesn't include a thoughtful, methodical and critical look at the budget overall. That is to say, a holistic look at our local priorities and funding needs, the taxes, fees, and other revenue that the county collects, let alone innovative ways for the county to create new efficiencies in how we do business and enhance the productivity of our resources.
The current budget process largely ignores the way we tax our citizens and spend their money, and how we deliver key services at a price we can afford.
In the private sector, successful organizations engage in a deliberative process to review the performance of business units and implement innovative improvements that will drive success. They frequently utilize outside experts to audit their financial statements in order to provide the highest possible degree of confidence for investors, shareholders, and others and to ensure that every penny is properly accounted for.
The notion of improving performance by methodically reviewing complex programs shouldn't be limited to the private sector. Lee County should embrace this concept and hire outside experts and auditors to review how the county conducts business. The new knowledge, transparency and efficiencies that are likely to be gained by these efforts would no doubt give taxpayers significantly increased confidence in how their tax dollars are used.
Certainly, the Lee County clerk of court's office does an effective job in carrying out one of its missions by conducting internal financial audits. But these compliance audits are fundamentally different than outside performance and accounting audits.
Over the past 20 years, Lee County's population has doubled. The complexity of formulating policy and delivering world-class service has increased. If Lee County is to set a long-term sustainable path for our children and grandchildren, we need to change the fundamental ways in which the county does business. That is if we truly want to be able to develop and implement innovative policies that help us successfully manage the challenges of preserving our environment, building new homes and places of business, revitalizing areas that need redevelopment, and attracting and retaining good jobs, great employers and a talented and creative workforce.
That starts by supplementing the hard work of the Lee County clerk's office and others with outside experts to conduct a truly independent performance review and financial audit of our county. Then, and only then, will we be able to ensure that we have the best, most efficient and highest productive policies and services in place and that we are operating a local government that is lean, efficient, and responsive to its communities.
Sawyer Smith is a Fort Myers-based attorney and small-business owner. He is a candidate for the Lee County commission, District 4.