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“A government’s budget reflects its vision, strategy, and priorities. But managing a budget process that is inclusive, efficient, and transparent can be challenging for leaders who must engage many different stakeholders under tight deadlines.” -Government.com

It’s the start of the New Year and the start of a new budget planning process for many public agencies.  We are regularly asked to present to budget committees to share how our services around code enforcement, permitting, and citizen engagement can bring value and help the committee determine whether or not it fits with the agency’s goals.

Some of the key technology ROI we’ve seen with our municipal clients:

• Online knowledge base significantly reduced office calls/visits: savings of upwards of $40,000 in staff time per year
• 50% reduction in staff time spent responding to citizen requests, translating to an annual savings more than $15,000 for every 1,000 cases
• Reporting for executive team to access all open cases and their status at a click of a button, translated to savings of over $25,000 in one municipality
• Providing mobile field access has increased inspectors and officers capacity over 25%
• Automating tracking of complex service issues saves tremendous time; one client estimated centralized tracking saved the time equivalent of three FTEs in one year.

And this is only part of the story. The improved communication, increased level of citizen trust, and ability to support better decision making and resource allocation are benefits that pay huge dividends in other ways.

For more information on budgeting best practices, please see the ICMA resources here.

And you’d like a hand in helping you make the business & budget case in your own agency, please call or email anytime (dave@comcate.com, 415.632.1482). I would be happy  to help you put together a great case for initiatives in any of the following areas:

External progams

• CRM/311
• Mobile Apps

Internal programs

• Code Enforcement
• Animal Control
• Permitting
• Licensing

New Clients

As I’ve noted in previous months’ newsletters, one of the values that all of our customers share in is the strength of the network and knowledge of hundreds of other Comcate clients across the country.
We recently welcomed the following clients to the Comcate family:

City of Coachella, CA – Utilizing Comcate’s Abandoned Vehicle Manager (AVM) to track and manage abatement.

City of Danville, KY – Public Notification- Using Comcate’s Code Enforcement Manager (CEM) and our public notification system to comply with KY HB422.

City of Edgewater, CO – Using Comcate’s Code Enforcement Manager.

Have a great year!

Dave Richmond
415-632-1482
dave@comcate.com