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Around The Industry
By Gary Gleason
Tracker Software queried a
dozen clients across the country this past month to get a pulse on
recent trends, challenges and opportunities. As we move into
the second quarter of 2005 the key issues most public works managers
reported were rising costs, shrinking budgets, staff attrition and
increased public expectations as their greatest challenges.
Most public works
organizations pump thousands of gallons of fuel each year, so recent
jumps in fuel costs have an obvious budget impact. But as some
managers we spoke with pointed out, rising fuel prices have broader
repercussions.
“Rising fuel costs obviously
has a big impact on operations,” noted Tracey Sample with the public
works department in Pueblo, Colorado. “But the biggest effect
is on the costs of all goods and services. Because of gas
prices it costs our suppliers more [to produce and transport goods],
a price that they pass on to the consumer. Ultimately that
means less service to the public.”
Public
Expectations
Yet according to many, the
public’s expectations for service are climbing.
“One thing that I have
noticed is that people expect more service,” said Nancy Holmes,
administrative assistant for City of Durango Department of Public
Works, “Everything is so automated these days that people just
kind of expect it and expect it now.”
Sample agreed, saying that
she believes the public is increasingly reliant on the government to
take care of all aspects of their life.
“If something needs to be
done, like picking up a trash can the dogs got into, instead of
taking care of it themselves they call the city or the county or
anyone to take care of it for them. The public is not very
self-reliant, which takes us away from the real issue of fixing
streets,” Sample said.
That can be a challenge for
public works organizations that have seen their budgets slashed to
meet reduced sales tax revenues experienced by most cities and
counties during the post September 11th economic downturn.
Many departments said that they have had to suspend some services
they used to provide, to layoff staff, and to focus efforts, such as
repairs on arterial roadways as opposed to secondary roads.
Budget
Constraints
Some regions are hampered
further by “taxpayer rights laws” that tie government expenditures
to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Colorado’s Tabor bill, for
example, requires voter approval for governmental expenditures above
the Denver CPI, which during economic decline effectively
ratchets-down how much a city or county can spend. Clients
noted that they are using PubWorks software more and
more as a result of these economic pressures.
“As dollars get tighter we
use the software more, looking at man hours for what we are doing,
identifying where there might be savings, and deciding how to
prioritize our cost-cutting activities,” said Dan Hershman, Road
Maintenance Manager with the Boulder County Road Maintenance
Department.
“We are looking at more fuel
efficiency in our equipment, and we’re looking at operation issues,
like cutting idle time,” Hershman continued. “But my
commissioners are all the time asking me what it would cost if we
did this, or what it would save if we didn’t do that, or what we
spent on the recent snowstorm. With the software we can do
that.”
Recruitment and Retention
Several clients we spoke with
noted that they are having a harder time recruiting and retaining
employees.
“Our biggest challenge is to
try to train people and keep them working in the field,” Holmes
said. “I don’t know why, but we are seeing more people
leaving, and it is getting harder to get new workers, too.”
Some attribute this to an
up-tick in the construction industry, which competes for many of the
same employees but often pays more than their governmental
counterparts.
“One of our top issues right
now is difficulty getting and retaining quality staff for what we
are able to pay,” Hershman said. “When you dispense 300,000
gallons of fuel a year, and fuel process go up like they have, it
has to come from somewhere. It is tough to compete.”
Yet even in areas
experiencing growth, clients reported an ongoing need to prioritize
their efforts.
“We have had double digit
growth here, which means more people expecting service, often times
way out on rural roads,” said Patti Vernarsky, Administrative
Assistant for the Flathead County Road and Bridge Department in
Montana. “People will say, ‘do you know how much I pay in
taxes?’ and it is usually way less than what we pay to maintain the
road like we do. With
PubWorks we can show them.”
Information Management
This sort of ease of
accessing information was a common theme among PubWorks
users.
“The thing I like the most
with
PubWorks is it’s not hard to pull up the information we
need. With our old system IT had to enter a query, and it took
a week to get your numbers. You can’t have to rely on another
department to tell you your numbers,” Sample said.
“We have enough paved roads
to stretch the country, and double that in dirt roads,” said Pam
Armfield with the Department of Public Works in Weld County,
Colorado, “so it is a big deal that PubWorks makes it
easy to find the data we need. We use reports when we bill
other departments within the county, and as back-up when we have to
bill the state, or smaller towns that we do work for. For us what it
comes down to is accountability.”
Seeking
Efficiency and Durability
Hershman may have best
captured what we heard in terms of how the industry is coping.
“We are looking at what the
industry has to offer in equipment that lasts longer and works
better. We are focusing on training for staff in how to do their
jobs better. Similarly, we are looking at electronic data management
so we can keep track of costs,” Hershman said.
While this may be a
challenging time in the industry, everyone at Tracker Software was
gratified to hear that we are part of the solution, and continue to
explore ways to better support your needs.
Table of Contents Volume 1, Edition 1
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