State Auditor Rob Sand recently stopped in Franklin County and presented a P.I.E Award, or the Public Innovations and Efficiencies Award, to the county government.
A survey is sent out by the state auditor’s office to all schools, cities and counties in Iowa on an annual basis, and is a way for governmental entities to try and be as efficient as possible, and to find areas that the entities can improve upon.
Katy Flint is the Franklin County Auditor, and tells RadioOnTheGo News the county has worked hard at being efficient, for example, by using LED lights.
“So all of the buildings that the county owns had been switched over to LED lighting. So not only obviously does it reduce the utility or utility bills, but it really the longevity of our light bulbs is amazing. In the time that I have been, you know, with the county, which I’m in my fifth year in office, I can truly say I don’t know that any of the light bulbs in the auditor’s office has been replaced because they last that long, which obviously saves the county money that we’re not constantly having to buy light bulbs.”
Flint says county employees working together have made a difference for Franklin County.
“We are constantly watching our spending. We’re constantly looking for ways to save money as a whole and compared to a lot of other counties in Iowa, Franklin County is really sitting in a good position and I really credit that not only to the existing supervisors but to the supervisors that came before them that have laid the foundation for healthy finances. We’re not flushing cash, but we aren’t scraping the bottom of the barrel and having to cut positions yet like a lot of counties are and that really is a testament to the work between the department heads, the supervisors, myself as the budget and finance director, everybody really working together to be in the situation we are.”
Franklin County was awarded as the Best Performing County of its size for 2024 in Iowa.
