“We’re located in northeast Kansas and are home to the largest manmade lake, Milford Lake,” explains District 1 Commissioner Trish Giordano.“We’re right next door to Fort Riley. We have railroad access, highway access, and air access with a regional airport.” The county’s transportation infrastructure includes Manhattan Regional Airport, which provides commercial airline service, positioning the area within easy reach of major markets across a 600mile radius. Two years ago, Stormont Vail Health System, affiliated with the Mayo Clinic, assumed operations of the county’s struggling hospital. “Them taking over the hospital has been a huge asset for our community to ensure that we have quality healthcare here,” Giordano notes. FINANCIAL TRANSFORMATION AND GOVERNANCE REFORM Geary County’s most dramatic changes have occurred behind the scenes, where a complete overhaul of financial management has stabilized operations and eliminated waste.“The hospital and finance director were mainly the reasons why I ran for public office,” Commissioner Giordano recalls.“I felt like there was a huge need to try to restructure things.” The county hired Finance Director Tami Robison, whose first challenge was saving the hospital without raising taxes. “Within two weeks I started scouring the financials, the budget, the audits, trying to figure out where we might have some adjustments,” Robison explains. The county had been levying taxes across twenty separate funds unnecessarily. Robison restructured the entire budget, consolidating operations to levy only for the general fund and debt service fund.“We were able to realize there were a lot of reserves sitting there,” she notes. “Because of that, we could use those reserves and our sales tax that was being used to pay the bond and stop levying for that, which allowed us to put this other bond in place and not increase any taxes for the taxpayers.” The county lacked basic financial controls, operating with an outdated procurement code and no purchase card program. Robison implemented comprehensive financial policies, established reserve requirements, and modernized the computer software system. Employee compensation received similar attention through a complete wage study and implementation of one hundred percent compression for most departments. The sheriff’s office benefited from a transition to the KP&F retirement system, providing more robust benefits for emergency service personnel. “We adopted a new pay plan with a grade and step in place,” Robison explains.“This allows us to retain, recruit better and more competitively.” 35 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 06, ISSUE 09 GEARY COUNTY, KS
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