Efficiency In Government

Mark is an expert in helping large organizations do more with less money. He has helped ‘Fortune 2000’ companies become more focused and efficient – savings hundreds of millions of dollars to use for new growth and hiring new employees. That’s pretty good experience to put to work for Salt Lake County.

As our council member, Mark’s will make our $741 million budget his primary effort. By working together with county employees and experts from around the country, Mark will be able to help us save $$ millions.

Over the past few years, the Mayor and Council have been doing a nice job of holding taxes down. Keeping our spending under control will now be even harder – and more important.

On one hand: It is just too easy to think that there will always be more money. But the reality is that our taxes are already high. To attract needed business and higher-paying jobs, we will need to hold the line on new taxes.

On the other hand: It is too easy to think that simply tightening the belt will get the job done. We need our county services. Safety, sanitation, real estate records and ambulances are too important to think we can just cut back.

But we CAN improve. All good private companies do, every year. Our county government can too. We just need to apply basic, good business practices:

• Really listening to “customers” (in our case, citizens)
• Continually prioritizing Nice-to-Have’s v. Need-to Have’s
• Simplifying the way we do things
• Establishing performance measures and clear accountabilities
• Outsourcing to services that private companies can do better
• Asking employees – they usually already know the best ways to improve

Helping organizations do more with less is already Mark’s career. Now let’s have him help our county too.