Montgomery County Department of Finance Earns Two NACo Achievement Awards

For Immediate Release: Monday, June 10, 2019

Montgomery County’s Department of Finance (Finance) has earned two 2019 Achievement Awards for outstanding programs. The awards are presented by the National Association of Counties (NACo) to recognize efforts by local jurisdictions that promote responsible, responsive and effective county government.

Finance programs receiving awards this year are:

Public Election Fund

• Montgomery County, Maryland’s Public Election Fund (PEF) is a public campaign financing program established to encourage greater voter participation in County elections, increase opportunities for more residents to run for office, and reduce the influence of large contributions from businesses, political action groups, and other large organizations. The County adopted legislation in 2014 which established the PEF in January of 2015 for the 2018 election cycle.  While many jurisdictions throughout the Country have a public campaign finance program, Montgomery County is the first County in the United States to have a public campaign finance program for a local election.  There were 68 candidates who appeared on the 2018 County Council and County Executive election ballots, 40 of those candidates filed an intent to participate in the program with 23 candidates qualifying for the Program and receiving approximately $5.25 million in matching public funds.  Of the 10 elected offices eligible to participate in the PEF program, seven of those offices were attained by a candidate who participated in the program, including the highest elected office of County Executive.

Software Robotic Process Automation

• Finance is leveraging Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology from UiPath to automate routine, repetitive tasks such as data entry within the organization with the expectation of expanding this to other departments in the County. Tasks that have already been automated using RPA technology in the department are freeing up several hours of work each week that can be reallocated to other tasks such as customer service. The combination of utilizing this technology along with the County administration’s emphasis of Lean and Six Sigma for business process improvement will provide tremendous value to residents’ tax dollars. 

“Robotics Process Automation is a two-year-old technology in the United States. Early on the Finance Department leadership team in Montgomery County, Maryland, saw the potential of this emerging technology and became the first County in the United States to deploy robotic process automation,” said UiPath Federal Chief Technology Officer Jim Walker. “We at UiPath could not be more excited. Over time the efficiencies and value to the County will contribute to even better service than residence receive now.”

Finance is responsible for the financial administration of the County government, including accounting and payroll, debt and cash management, tax billing and revenue collection, economic and revenue forecasting, and risk management.

The department manages financial operations, recommends and implements fiscal policies, safeguards public assets, and encourages a safe environment on public property. For more information about Finance, go to www.montgomerycountymd.gov/finance.

NACo unites America's 3,069 County Governments. Founded in 1935, NACo brings County officials together to advocate with a collective voice on national policy, exchange ideas and build new leadership skills, pursue transformational County solutions, enrich the public's understanding of County Government and exercise exemplary leadership in public service. For more information about NACo, go to https://www.naco.org/.

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Release ID: 19-201
Media Contact: Ohene Gyapong 240-777-6507