26BUDGET(FULL-LINKED) - Flipbook - Page 19
City of Plymouth 2025 / 2026 Budget
work. In addition, we have a well-known reputation for having a strong work culture and work
environment.
The re-structuring of the Finance Department will have a long-term positive impact on these
operations and it will help lighten the extreme load that we have placed on John Scanlon. Having
a backup for him is extremely critical and having the ability to send staff to various technical
training courses helps us keep our annual budget award. Promoting from within and ensuring
that we have the ability to promote from within also makes us a very desirable place to work.
We also need to be aware of the negative impact of those people who are interested in creating
additional layers of bureaucracy within the overall organization. As previously indicated, we are
a very lean organization and we often have shift responsibilities around to deliver services, and
when we get caught up in bureaucracy it slows the delivery of vital services. The City Commission
is the board that authorizes funding and policies for the entire City and they and the staff follow
the five simple rules for decision making:
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•
•
•
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Is it right for the community?
Is it right for the city?
Is it legal and ethical?
Does it fit within our policies and procedures?
Is this a decision that I am willing to be accountable for?
We must be cautious of creating other layers of bureaucracy, when the current program of having
the lead city board, the City Commission, adopt policies that are in place and working for the
betterment of the community and the city.
Our greatest challenge is that we have proven that we are able to cover and deliver a wide range
of visible governmental services with a limited staff and limited delivery failures. Our success
makes it very difficult for people to understand the stresses placed on our operations and why,
when priorities get shifted, some projects are eliminated or fall behind if the project cannot keep
pace with the flow of work and priorities. Again, we are a results-based organization, not a
process-based organization which is why when a project gets bogged down with process, we
tend to move resources to other priorities that deliver visible results quickly. The effects of
Proposal A and the Headlee Amendment, along with the highly variable economic situation will
continue to challenge us as we maintain our efforts to reduce tax rates while delivering high
quality services.
We need to be extremely aware of the actions of the various boards and commissions making it
clear that meetings are arranged and led by staff, as they are the people responsible for
compliance with various rules, regulations and policy set by the City Commission. Appointed
boards and commissions need to be fully aware of, and in compliance with, the City Commission's
strategic plan, as the other boards and commissions are subservient to the City Commission.
I would like to commend Finance Director John Scanlon, who is our team leader in developing
this budget. John and his staff have produced award-winning budgets, and our incredible group
of department heads has worked together to meet the goal of maintaining services. Our budget
is more than just a small group of numbers. Our budget is for the seventh year in a row awardwinning, because we have an extensive amount of detail within the document in order to be fully
transparent.
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