In 2023, Collier commissioners made a major shift towards what’s known as priority-based budgeting.
In collaboration with ResourceX, a Tyler Technologies company, the county has worked to align spending with community goals, with a focus on cutting costs, while boosting operational efficiency and effectiveness.
At a workshop on Feb. 17, commissioners heard an update on the effort, now in its third year. The update included a look at three new digital tools under development by ResourceX that will allow the county to better track its spending and savings, not only by department, but by program.
A new dashboard, for example, will display Collier County’s achievable savings. A sample of it shared with commissioners showed the potential for $82.3 million to $124.1 million in savings from the new budget approach, but those numbers are considered preliminary, with data continuing to be added by ResourceX.
“The dashboard isn’t ready for prime time,” said John Mullins, the county’s director of communications.
In a detailed presentation to commissioners, Chris Johnson, the county’s director for corporate financial and management services, shared some of the more concrete savings that have come from the new budgeting approach.
One chart listed more than $23 million in savings from strategies implemented as far back as 2024. The strategies involve consolidating services, establishing partnerships, implementing or increasing fees, securing grants and improving efficiency in a variety of ways.
When it comes to efficiency, one of the biggest savings has been from the installation of a 1.6-million-gallon thermal energy storage tank on the county’s main campus, at the corner of U.S. 41 East and Airport-Pulling Road.
The county installed the new tank to produce and store chilled water during off-peak hours that can supply the campus with cool air when demand and costs are the highest. The county received more than $1.3 million in rebates from Florida Power & Light for making the energy upgrades and investments.
Additionally, the investments are expected to result in annual savings of $360,000 for the county on its electric bills.
Other savings are coming from the consolidation of website services contracts, improved pricing for hazardous material disposal and the reduction of digital content and eBook resource vendors.
Reducing the library system’s digital content and eBook vendors from two to three is saving the county $300,000 a year alone, while still allowing it to continue offering those services, Johnson said.
Upon hearing the amount of savings from that specific change, Commissioner LoCastro said the county didn’t “do a great job of advertising this,” and as a result some library users and even employees feared losing those services as a result of the county’s cost-cutting efforts.
It’s up to county staff and ResourceX to make sure the “good news story” is told about the efforts, he said, so commissioners aren’t accused of “slicing and dicing”— and to “separate rumor from fact.”
The list of savings over the last few years includes a number of significant government grants. Among them:
- A federally funded grant of more than $1.38 million for the purchase of five lots off Bay Street in East Naples to improve stormwater management and connectivity.
- A state grant of nearly $3.65 million for a new fire and emergency services station in Golden Gate Estates.
- A federal grant of $987,000 for phase three of a sidewalk improve project for Immokalee Road, along Eustis and West Delaware Avenue in Immokalee.
- A state grant of $650,000 to help modernize the technology at the county’s Emergency Operations Center.
Collier County has also received millions from the Florida Department of Transportation to help widen Immokalee Road from State Road 29 to County Line Road, to improve Interstate 75 interchanges, and to beautify roads.
The county has collaborated with the nonprofit Naples Botanical Garden and local homeowner associations on road beautification projects that are more resilient, drought tolerant and sustainable, saving resources and encouraging community action, Johnson said.
As part of his slide show, Johnson pointed to a second list of both completed and in-progress savings initiatives. It included maintaining the highest possible credit rating, without compromising the delivery of services.
“This allows the county to borrow at lower interest rates, saving millions in financing costs,” Johnson said.
The county, he said, continues to apply for state and federal grants to help improve its transportation network, and with those grants it’s looking to save $2.9 million for upgrades on Pine Ridge Road, and up to $3.1 million for enhancements on Santa Barbara Boulevard.
“The county is also applying for $40 million, or 50% of the anticipated $80 million cost for the Immokalee Livingston flyover,” Johnson said. “It is anticipated that the actual award would be consistent with historical award levels, though, and would likely not exceed $20 million.”
A smaller initiative, he said, involves the facilities management division using in-house maintenance staff to replace conventional lighting with LED fixtures, which are far more efficient. Staff completed 15 buildings last year, and on average each new fixture saves $50 a year, Johnson said.
Following the presentation, Commissioner Chris Hall asked Johnson if he knew the percentage of initiatives that have saved the county money by improving efficiency, versus by obtaining grants or generating more income.
While Johnson didn’t know the answer off the top of his head, he said it appeared to be 25% to 33%, at least based on one of his charts.
“I mean, I love the efficiency part,” Hall said.
Improving efficiency was a big focus for county staff last year, and it’s started to pay off, with more ideas and initiatives coming forward, Johnson said.
He expects that trend to continue, as it’s “become part of our culture,” he said.
In reaction, Hall said: “I like it.”
Chris Fabian, a co-founder of ResourceX, said the cultural shift is key in order for the county to constantly align resources with priorities. It requires always looking for “entrepreneurial, opportunistic ways to save money and/or offset costs,” he said.
The new tools ResourceX has developed will help the county visualize what it has done and generate new ideas for savings and revenue generation, while keeping track of everything, creating a permanent, detailed record of what has and hasn’t been implemented, Fabian said.
Commissioner Bill McDaniel said the tools will be key in driving the cultural shift, putting more information in the hands of employees at the departmental and divisional level.
“This is the way this happens,” he said.
Commissioner Rick LoCastro said he’d like to see ResourceX generate a report that summarizes all that has been accomplished, shows the next priorities and includes future possibilities to help “educate people that we’re really trying hard here.”
Early on, the county estimated the effort generated about $40 million in savings and revenue opportunities.
Since he was elected in 2022, Commissioner Hall has been a big proponent of priority-based budgeting — and cutting government costs and waste.
In his most recent newsletter, he boasted about the results to date.
“This isn’t about cutting services. It’s about delivering them smarter,” he wrote.
He emphasized that in 2024 and 2025, the county rolled back its millage — or property tax — rate, aiming to keep revenue neutral, despite rising property values. In 2026, the commission voted to hold the rate steady, allowing for increased tax collections to address critical county needs.
With the new budgeting approach, Hall emphasized that more than 400 programs and services had been evaluated, many for “the first time ever.”
“We now know exactly what we’re spending, how it compares to peer counties nationwide, and where opportunities exist to do better,” Hall said.
He added that the effort has earned recognition from the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA).
“But what matters most isn’t the awards — it’s the cultural shift happening inside county government,” he said. “Departments are now asking different questions: Does this program deliver results? Are we the right ones to provide it? Can we do it more efficiently?”
He stressed the county is “just getting started,” with a budgeting effort that is not a “one-time project.”
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