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Spreading efficiency throughout state

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 6, 2009

Florida TaxWatch's report on the Prudential-Davis Productivity Awards should be required reading for every state and local official.

In particular, Hillsborough County Administrator Pat Bean, faced with a $140 million budget shortfall and the possible elimination of hundreds of jobs, might profit from studying the report, which recognizes public employees whose ideas have cut costs or improved services. The county years ago should have adopted a program similar to the Davis Awards to promote efficiency.

There are plenty of good ideas to steal from the 2009 Davis report, which recognizes public employees whose work has saved the public $342 million in cost savings, cost avoidances or increased revenue.

For instance, the state Agency for Health Care Administration combined purchasing and contract administration functions. So did the Department of Environmental Protection. Both agencies found the move increased procurement competition while reducing the time required to develop contracts. Taxpayers saved $375,000 at the health-care agency alone.

The University of Florida saved more than $100,000 a year by extending vehicle service intervals from every six months or 3,000 miles to every 12 months or 6,000 miles. Vehicle performance did not decline.

The Florida Department of Children & Families saved $846,014 in leases by consolidating seven service centers into one processing center and four satellite offices.

Similarly, the Department of Transportation consolidated nine information technology call centers to one site in Deland, with a peak-hour backup facility in Chipley, saving $400,000.

In the Tampa Bay area, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and the county Criminal Justice Office partnered with the Department of Children & Families' Adult Mental Health Office to develop a supervision program for felons with mental illness. The change helped drop the re-arrest rate from roughly 55 percent to 15 percent, saving close to $1 million.

Hillsborough Health Department employees trained clerical staff to provide nutritional education for parents that more than doubled participation and resulted in fewer costly health problems.

The awards found dozens of other simple but notable examples of government workers minimizing costs and maximizing productivity.

Over the 21 years of the Davis Productivity Awards, the winners have spared taxpayers and businesses more than $6 billion.

Yet for all its success, TaxWatch President Dominic Calabro points out even those governments that have embraced the competition sometimes have too narrow a focus.

Officials rightly celebrate a department's innovation. But rarely do they explore how the same reforms could be adopted in other operations.

"Replication is the gift that keeps on giving," says Calabro. "Governments could multiply their savings if they would develop a detailed plan for the approaches that could be used elsewhere."

As the Prudential-Davis Productivity Awards show, there are plenty of enterprising public workers who strive to make sure taxpayers get their money's worth.

It is the task of government leaders to go beyond encouraging and rewarding their efforts. They should also make sure good ideas are spread throughout the organization.

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