Johnny Thomas
Candidate for City of Milwaukee Comptroller Johnny Thomas is pledging a new vision for the office he hopes to win in the April 5 election.
Common Council members rely on the Comptroller’s office to chart the course of the city’s economy, produce annual financial reports and estimate future revenue.
Local officials and business trust the comptroller for economic development guidance and data analysis.
Thomas’ vision for the Office of Comptroller is to create an interactive web tool with a three-point plan that provides greater transparency, efficiency and education for the Comptroller’s office, city residents, contractors and businesses.
He hopes the tool will be similar to how an individual would balance their checkbook with tabs for payments to vendors, spending by agency, spending by purchase code and travel expenses.
“The new tool will bring people together, leading to a greater understanding and tracking of where the City of Milwaukee spends its money, how recent years compare and how departments budget for change over time,” said Thomas.
He is confident that his vision will ensure more transparency so that city residents are better able to hold city officials accountable for their tax dollars. “I want everything to be tracked – revenue, expenditures and where we can consolidate services. That’s how we can all work together to build strong finances for a stable future and also gain trust from tax payers,” said Thomas.
“Milwaukee has some great opportunities in the pipeline.
The Bucks arena and parking structure to the Streetcar to multi-use developments along the lakefront, we need to make sure these big projects and the small ones, too are being fiscally managed in a responsible manner so that residents and the city sees the highest return on their investments,” he said.
Now endorsed by over 40 elected officials and organizations including the Honorable Vel Phillips, ATU Local 998, Wisconsin Jobs Now and SEIU Wisconsin State Council, Thomas says that momentum has been growing for the last month of the campaign.
“Johnny Thomas not only has the community support but he has the financial expertise to move the Comptroller’s office and our city to the next level of fiscal responsibility.
Thomas’ vision for the office demonstrates leadership and a readiness to work on day one,” said State Senator Nikiya Harris- Dodd.
The idea of creating a user-friendly government consolidation isn’t new. Thomas cited recently that the state of California decided to consolidate some local government agencies amidst declining revenues which had lead to an increase in efficiency and controlled costs.
“There’s no reason why we can’t duplicate what California did.
They essentially combined their treasury and comptroller departments. It’s a smart, efficient, measure to keep them independent but also eliminate inefficiencies.