Lewis Wants To Apply Business Principles To Local Government
October 18, 2022 at 11:48 p.m.
Lewis Wants To Apply Business Principles To Local Government
By David [email protected]
If elected Nov. 8 to the Kosciusko County Council District 3 seat, the Libertarian wants to take what he’s learned in the business world and apply them to local government. He faces Republican Tony Ciriello in the general election.
Lewis is a certified lean practitioner, which essentially means he reduces variation waste out of processes.
“I’ve done everything from supervision to plant management in continuous improvement,” Lewis said in an interview Tuesday at Starbucks. “... So I think we can take some of those principles of business and apply them to government, which I know I’m not unique in saying that, but it’s been, I think, a while since we’ve tried that in this county and I see a lot of the same inputs and expecting a different outcome, but I think we all know that doesn’t necessarily work that way.”
Lewis has lived in Kosciusko County for over 10 years and said he loves everything about it. He and his wife, a local realtor, have two boys.
“We love the lakes and the outdoor activities. We love the diversity. We love the opportunities for all age and income levels. I just think we have a lot to offer here in this community for the size it is,” he said.
Lewis said a Libertarian defined is “essentially you know what is best for you and your family and nobody else does. Therefore, removing as many roadblocks to you living your own life is what we’re all about. So, I think a lot of people in government like to decide what’s good for you and make rules accordingly and then, one-size-fits-all solutions don’t fit all, so Libertarians really just want to leave you alone.”
He said he thinks there is a segment of that in the Republican Party, “but each cycle they kind of move a little bit away from that in order to win votes. And then, of course, locally, the Republican Party has not necessarily been very open to some of the principles of small government in order to win elections.”
Lewis said it all comes down to principle, standing on what one believes in and not giving that up to win elections.
The fall election is the first time Lewis has ran for elected office. Asked why he chose to run for County Council, he said, “I feel like it is the largest way to make an impact without having to run a very large campaign. I’m a busy guy. I’ve got kids. I just think we can have a big impact with a few people instead of having a Congress or Statehouse or something like that where you really have to expand your organization in order to make a larger impact.”
The County Council is the “purse strings” of county government. If elected, Lewis said he “absolutely” has some ideas in mind.
“My two biggest things are community growth. I think we have a really paltry growth rate when you levelize it over 10 years, and, of course, Covid kind of accelerated that, dragged us down as an average,” he said. “We have a less than 1% growth rate when you also add in what we lose, so you just can’t say, ‘Oh we added X income or we added X tax revenue or X businesses.’ You also have to take in what we’re losing, and when you do that, it’s less than 1% growth rate over 10 years.”
Lewis said that’s paltry for the level of industrial base that exists in Kosciusko County and the county can do a lot better.
“What I see a lot of in the County Council is giving tax abatements to organizations that have been here for decades in some cases. So, a good example - and I won’t mention any names - but recently the County Council gave an abatement to a very large organization here in the county somewhere over $2 million, and there really was no debate about it whatsoever. It just kind of got rubber stamped,” Lewis said.
What concerned him about that is that $2 million is nothing compared to what it would cost the organization to pick up and leave Kosciusko County.
“So, if we’re giving them ($2 million) and it would cost them $20 million to leave, I don’t really understand where the benefit comes from there. Also, because there’s really nothing that ties that organization to using those funds for capital within Kosciusko County. These are big, multi-national organizations. That money goes into the big ether that is their profit line and the stockholders get a big return, which some of us are shareholders, but it doesn’t necessarily add jobs, it doesn’t necessarily increase wages in this county. And I think that we can do a lot better there,” Lewis explained.
He said he’s not against tax abatements in principle, but the county needs to be a bit more discerning on how it uses tax abatements.
“I actually would like to make it an even more voluntary kind of process wherein larger businesses, or smaller businesses, can buy economic bonds for the county itself and that way we just set the rules on how that bond money is used, and then we can inject that money back into things businesses need now - high-speed internet, uncongested roads. A supply chain that is more local. So, you can use those bonds directly for that, and then the company gets a relief of property tax or something along those lines. But, to me that’s a more discerning way to use the money than just to say, ‘Hey, here’s a free $2 million and we’ll see you next time you need approval,’” Lewis stated.
The County Council just wrapped up his budgeting process for 2023 and Lewis said there was a fair amount of due diligence to it.
“What concerns me is that we don’t necessarily have an eye for the customer, being you and I, the taxpayers. We consider how many services we can offer, which is good, sometimes the taxpayer reaps those benefits. We are concerned about expanding certain areas and stuff like that, certain roads, but, for example, the wheel tax has been in place for going on eight years now and we’ve got a lot of (American Rescue Plan Act) funds out there that we’re adding on top of the county budget. So, we’re adding all these ARPA funds on top but we’re not really considering how all these ARPA funds can replace some of the county funding in of itself for things that the ARPA?funds will cover, and then taking some of that money and returning it to the taxpayer,” Lewis said.
He said there’s people financially hurting in this county and not everybody’s getting that median wage. “I think we need to look at what we can do to lift the burden on folks in the county who pay taxes,” Lewis said.
As for county employee wages, he said the county needs to be competitive in the wages it offers, but if the county is going to pay the best or close to the best for the best personnel, it needs to have an accountability factor.
“If you’re just going to lay money on top of it and (say), ‘Oh, we fixed the problem,’ well, you didn’t because there has to be accountability to a certain set of goals and objectives,” Lewis said. “Recently, within the last year, the county lost several hundred thousand dollars. I’m sure we all heard about that. Where is the accountability? Was there anybody cited? Was there anybody who lost their job over that? Was there any responsibility redirected as a result of that? I’m not seeing the accountability that you would see in a large organization.”
He said he’s not running for Council to drastically change anything, but to bring accountability to county government and be something different from the revolving faces of local county government.
If elected Nov. 8 to the Kosciusko County Council District 3 seat, the Libertarian wants to take what he’s learned in the business world and apply them to local government. He faces Republican Tony Ciriello in the general election.
Lewis is a certified lean practitioner, which essentially means he reduces variation waste out of processes.
“I’ve done everything from supervision to plant management in continuous improvement,” Lewis said in an interview Tuesday at Starbucks. “... So I think we can take some of those principles of business and apply them to government, which I know I’m not unique in saying that, but it’s been, I think, a while since we’ve tried that in this county and I see a lot of the same inputs and expecting a different outcome, but I think we all know that doesn’t necessarily work that way.”
Lewis has lived in Kosciusko County for over 10 years and said he loves everything about it. He and his wife, a local realtor, have two boys.
“We love the lakes and the outdoor activities. We love the diversity. We love the opportunities for all age and income levels. I just think we have a lot to offer here in this community for the size it is,” he said.
Lewis said a Libertarian defined is “essentially you know what is best for you and your family and nobody else does. Therefore, removing as many roadblocks to you living your own life is what we’re all about. So, I think a lot of people in government like to decide what’s good for you and make rules accordingly and then, one-size-fits-all solutions don’t fit all, so Libertarians really just want to leave you alone.”
He said he thinks there is a segment of that in the Republican Party, “but each cycle they kind of move a little bit away from that in order to win votes. And then, of course, locally, the Republican Party has not necessarily been very open to some of the principles of small government in order to win elections.”
Lewis said it all comes down to principle, standing on what one believes in and not giving that up to win elections.
The fall election is the first time Lewis has ran for elected office. Asked why he chose to run for County Council, he said, “I feel like it is the largest way to make an impact without having to run a very large campaign. I’m a busy guy. I’ve got kids. I just think we can have a big impact with a few people instead of having a Congress or Statehouse or something like that where you really have to expand your organization in order to make a larger impact.”
The County Council is the “purse strings” of county government. If elected, Lewis said he “absolutely” has some ideas in mind.
“My two biggest things are community growth. I think we have a really paltry growth rate when you levelize it over 10 years, and, of course, Covid kind of accelerated that, dragged us down as an average,” he said. “We have a less than 1% growth rate when you also add in what we lose, so you just can’t say, ‘Oh we added X income or we added X tax revenue or X businesses.’ You also have to take in what we’re losing, and when you do that, it’s less than 1% growth rate over 10 years.”
Lewis said that’s paltry for the level of industrial base that exists in Kosciusko County and the county can do a lot better.
“What I see a lot of in the County Council is giving tax abatements to organizations that have been here for decades in some cases. So, a good example - and I won’t mention any names - but recently the County Council gave an abatement to a very large organization here in the county somewhere over $2 million, and there really was no debate about it whatsoever. It just kind of got rubber stamped,” Lewis said.
What concerned him about that is that $2 million is nothing compared to what it would cost the organization to pick up and leave Kosciusko County.
“So, if we’re giving them ($2 million) and it would cost them $20 million to leave, I don’t really understand where the benefit comes from there. Also, because there’s really nothing that ties that organization to using those funds for capital within Kosciusko County. These are big, multi-national organizations. That money goes into the big ether that is their profit line and the stockholders get a big return, which some of us are shareholders, but it doesn’t necessarily add jobs, it doesn’t necessarily increase wages in this county. And I think that we can do a lot better there,” Lewis explained.
He said he’s not against tax abatements in principle, but the county needs to be a bit more discerning on how it uses tax abatements.
“I actually would like to make it an even more voluntary kind of process wherein larger businesses, or smaller businesses, can buy economic bonds for the county itself and that way we just set the rules on how that bond money is used, and then we can inject that money back into things businesses need now - high-speed internet, uncongested roads. A supply chain that is more local. So, you can use those bonds directly for that, and then the company gets a relief of property tax or something along those lines. But, to me that’s a more discerning way to use the money than just to say, ‘Hey, here’s a free $2 million and we’ll see you next time you need approval,’” Lewis stated.
The County Council just wrapped up his budgeting process for 2023 and Lewis said there was a fair amount of due diligence to it.
“What concerns me is that we don’t necessarily have an eye for the customer, being you and I, the taxpayers. We consider how many services we can offer, which is good, sometimes the taxpayer reaps those benefits. We are concerned about expanding certain areas and stuff like that, certain roads, but, for example, the wheel tax has been in place for going on eight years now and we’ve got a lot of (American Rescue Plan Act) funds out there that we’re adding on top of the county budget. So, we’re adding all these ARPA funds on top but we’re not really considering how all these ARPA funds can replace some of the county funding in of itself for things that the ARPA?funds will cover, and then taking some of that money and returning it to the taxpayer,” Lewis said.
He said there’s people financially hurting in this county and not everybody’s getting that median wage. “I think we need to look at what we can do to lift the burden on folks in the county who pay taxes,” Lewis said.
As for county employee wages, he said the county needs to be competitive in the wages it offers, but if the county is going to pay the best or close to the best for the best personnel, it needs to have an accountability factor.
“If you’re just going to lay money on top of it and (say), ‘Oh, we fixed the problem,’ well, you didn’t because there has to be accountability to a certain set of goals and objectives,” Lewis said. “Recently, within the last year, the county lost several hundred thousand dollars. I’m sure we all heard about that. Where is the accountability? Was there anybody cited? Was there anybody who lost their job over that? Was there any responsibility redirected as a result of that? I’m not seeing the accountability that you would see in a large organization.”
He said he’s not running for Council to drastically change anything, but to bring accountability to county government and be something different from the revolving faces of local county government.
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