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From Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel’s Office...
Mandel tightens money belt

When I ran for State Treasurer I committed to continue the principled, fiscally conservative record I built as a City Councilman and State Representative.
 
I promised to conduct an immediate top-bottom review of the Treasurer’s office in order to cut the budget, reduce personnel, consolidate regional offices, and apply private sector business principles to running the Ohio Treasury.
 
My vision for the Treasurer’s office was based on a simple principle:
 
If families and businesses are tightening their belts, then government should do the same.
 
I’m proud to report to you that this morning, my office released a report detailing many of the aggressive cost-savings, creative security improvements, and wise investment strategies that have taken our operation to a level of efficiency never before seen in the Ohio Treasurer’s office.
 
This Treasurer’s office report, titled the 2011 Fiscal Year Top-Bottom Review, outlines many of the significant improvements we’ve made to the Treasurer’s office during the past six months.
 
Below are some of our accomplishments, followed by a story that appeared in today’s Columbus Dispatch, titled “Mandel tightens money belt: Departmental review leads to $1.2 million in savings.”
 
Increased the investment liquidity portfolio by $1.3 billion

Reduced our general revenue fund budget by $1.2 million over the next biennium

Voluntarily cut and sent back nearly $400,000 that we inherited from the previous Treasurer’s budget

Saved approximately $850,000 in salaries and benefits by eliminating 13 bureaucratic positions

Saved approximately $80,000 by stopping the practice of using taxpayer money to purchase promotional items such as pencils, tote bags, piggy banks, golf shirts, fans, water bottles and jar openers

Saved over $47,000 by consolidating and closing regional offices

Saved over $30,000 by shutting off unused or under-utilized phone, fax and mobile lines

Saved approximately $10,000 by eliminating unused cellular minutes

Saved approximately $16,000 by shifting the burden of paying for Cigarette Tax Stamps from taxpayers to vendors

Saved $15,000 annually by upgrading the website programming language

Saved approximately $8,500 per year by switching to an Ohio-based printing vendor

Saved $2,000 by ending plant watering contracts

Helped state agencies save money by providing them with a comparison matrix of credit card fees

Increased the security of the tax dollars we invest by upgrading the financial software for the first time in almost 10 years

Took 180 pieces of unused electronic equipment and made them available to state agencies and schools in order to help other government entities save money

And finally, please take the time to read this last and truly eye-opening cost-savings made possible by modernizing the office’s banking practices:
 
When I arrived at the Treasurer’s office there was a guy who drove checks everyday from Columbus to deposit them at KeyBank in Cleveland – and not even in a Brinks truck!  He was literally driving approximately $234 million per month right up I-71!  So I asked my staff, “If individual citizens can do banking on an iPhone or computer, why can’t state government?”  I am proud to report that through aggressive leveraging of technology and application of private sector business principles, we have made this process electronic, thereby increasing security for the taxpayers’, making money more readily available for investment, and ultimately saving the taxpayers over $100,000 per year.
 
Below is the story from this morning’s Columbus Dispatch that outlines much of what I have described above.  I hope you’ll take the time to read it.
 
I remain focused on my job as Treasurer, would appreciate any feedback you might have, and hope that I’m making you proud.
 
Best regards,
Josh

Columbus Dispatch...
Mandel tightens money belt
State treasurer: Departmental review leads to $1.2 million in savings
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
By Alan Johnson
 
Until recently, a state treasurer employee was making a round trip to a Cleveland bank five days a week, transporting an average of $11million a day in checks written to the state of Ohio.
 
No more.
 
By converting to electronic deposits, the state is sparing taxpayers the cost and security risk of the weekday trips, plus an estimated $100,000 a year savings in check-processing and related fees and by gaining access to deposits more quickly, Treasurer Josh Mandel said.
 
That was one of several changes prompted by what Mandel called a “top-to-bottom” review after his first six months in office. The report is being released today.
 
The changes helped produce a $400,000 surplus that Mandel returned to the state treasury at the end of the fiscal year on June 30. In addition, he projected an estimated $1.2 million savings in the current biennium.
 
Small change: ending a plant-watering service that cost taxpayers $2,000 a year.
 
Big change: eliminating 13 jobs, saving $850,000 in salaries and benefits.
 
“I know families throughout the state of Ohio are struggling,” Mandel said. “If families and businesses are cutting back and tightening their belts, the state can, too.
 
“We’re not done. We’re going to keep cutting.”
 
The treasurer reported saving $30,000 annually by disconnecting unused phone, fax and mobile phone lines; $10,000 by lowering cellphone minutes; and $47,000 by consolidating regional offices.
 
Mandel said he upgraded financial-investing software; encrypted financial records and sent 180 old computers, monitors and printers to the Department of Administrative Services for surplus sale.
 
His other moves included catching up on a backlog of 100 unprocessed applications for linked-deposit loans and asking Attorney General Mike DeWine to investigate allegations that two major banks were manipulating foreign-currency exchange rates at the expense of Ohio pension funds.
 
Mandel, a Republican, won the office last year by defeating incumbent Democrat Kevin L. Boyce. As a likely candidate for the U.S. Senate next year, Mandel has been roundly criticized by Democrats for focusing on campaign fundraising instead of tending to his treasurer’s duties.
 
Mandel defends his time in office, saying he has been focused on his job.
 
Even though he discontinued his predecessor’s practice of giving away promotional water bottles, totes, pencils and other items - an $80,000 savings, he calculated - he spent $1,500 to mail congratulatory letters on treasurer’s letterhead to Ohio college graduates this spring.
 
“I think it’s important to communicate to young people throughout the state of Ohio and let them know there are leaders who want them to stay here in the state,” Mandel said.

Read it at the Columbus Dispatch


 
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