E-Gov Savings

Municipal governments are faced with the seemingly unsurmountable expectations of being more transparent than ever and delivering more services to the public while spending fewer dollars. With the right mix of restructuring and increased reliance on technology these expectations can be met. It will not be an easy, yet every government agency is faced with making the transition or facing increasing criticism from their constituents. Phil Bertolini, in an article in the Government Finance Review titled Running the Government Race: Reaching the Finish Line with Technology, discusses the issue from various perspectives.

Bertolini states that agencies can no longer implement traditional strategies of merely cutting costs or increasing taxes. Such behavior will come up short in continuing to provide their current services, let alone increase the offerings that the public is clamoring for. The private sector is preoccupied primarily with profit, while government is concerned with service delivery and the prudent use of taxpayer money. The bottom line in both cases is dollars and cents. The preponderance, 80 to 90 percent, of all government, budgeted payouts is related to employee salaries and benefits. The trimming has to begin in this area.

Proper technology investment will result in reduced staff costs. However, merely reducing staff can place all services to the public in jeopardy. Governments must change the way they do business, says Bertolini. Improving services must remain their main goal, even if their coffers are becoming shallower. Technology is a tool that enables governments to do things differently. Technology allows automation of tasks, freeing up funds from salaries to employees who were manually entering data, answering questions and receiving payments.

Using the case study of Oakland County, Michigan, Bertolini points out that simply automating antiquated business processes and services does not create the significant wins desired. Municipal governments must rethink how they due business with the public and make use of modern e-government applications that can be easily accessed and understood by the public. These applications need to be offered for both computer and mobile device platforms.

We are in a new cost-cutting era of governance, yet there is the opportunity to make those cuts and increase services to the public. So, as experience has showed us, managers should spend many hours with their IT staff and private vendors to strategically place modern technology at the forefront of the delivery of their services.