As cities and towns nationwide struggle with budget deficits, unfunded pensions and increasing health care costs, a new consulting firm in Stamford hopes to start making a difference locally.
Municipal Enterprise Solutions L.L.C. officially opened its doors this month with the goal of helping municipalities and other government entities enhance operational processes, eliminate inefficiencies, improve risk control and, of course, reduce expenses.
“It is time to bring independent and effective solutions to address these issues that plague our local and national economy,” said John Pizzarelli, principal of Municipal Enterprise Solutions. “The best way we believe we can make a difference and impact is at the grassroots level ”” one municipality at a time.”
While accounting firms will typically advise municipalities, Pizzarelli said that between the three founders”™ experiences working with government entities over the last several years, the group has “seen pretty much all of it.”
Pizzarelli previously served as president of insurance provider CIFG Holdings Ltd.; co-founder Kathleen Corbet was president of McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. subsidiary Standard & Poor”™s; and Neil Budnick was president of municipal bond insurer MBIA Insurance Corp.
Currently the group has six employees and an expansive network of individuals to tap into for specific projects, Pizzarelli said.
“There has not been a lot of effort behind making municipalities more efficient,” Pizzarelli said. “Sometimes this can be the result of fear, inertia or political jockeying. But more often, it is simply lack of knowledge and experience as to how efficiencies and controls can be implemented.”
Pizzarelli and Corbet said Municipal Enterprise Solutions plans to not only consult and advise its clients on the projects it works on, but also train its clients in sustainable process improvements to help them find additional ways of “doing more with less,” long after Municipal Enterprise Solutions worked with them.
“The response to our mission has been overwhelmingly positive,” Corbet said. The group already has a number of projects under way, all related to the similar themes of oversight, benchmarking best practices and improving internal controls. Specific clients were not disclosed.
Local economists and business analysts have suggested that increased regionalism among Connecticut”™s municipalities could be a way to spur economic growth through improved efficiencies. For instance, the recent restructuring of the probate courts in Connecticut to combine multiple jurisdictions has saved the court system a significant amount of time and money.
Webster Bank”™s Nick Perna has previously called for the public sector to catch up to streamlined processes that are standard for the private sector.
“We make judgments about efficiencies every minute of the day in the private sector,” Perna said in September. “Why don”™t we do that in the public sector?”
Pizzarelli and Corbet said they agree.
“Already we are seeing movement in the area of fire protection, as small towns realize it is quite expensive to provide services that sit idle a good part of the time, still incurring costs,” Pizzarelli said. “We are excited about the concept of shared services and its expansion in the local government sector.”
