State Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink calls for better efficiency in Pinellas

ST. PETERSBURG — The state's chief financial officer suggested that Pinellas municipalities should follow her example to save tax money and run their governments more efficiently.

Alex Sink said the past couple of years have been tough financially for governments, from the passage of Amendment 1 to the more recent stock market downturn.

"We've all gotten more than we bargained for," Sink told elected officials who attended Saturday's meeting of the Suncoast League of Cities.

Even so, Sink said she had found ways to save money and increase transparency and accountability to voters. Among her initiatives: eliminating most no-bid contracts, cutting off unused cell phones, and creating a "sunshine spending" section on her department's Web site so taxpayers can easily find out who gets state contracts and for how much.

Sink also hinted that Pinellas governments should consider consolidating services, something she did in her office by reducing the 11 centers handling calls down to two.

"Small towns are just the heartbeat of America," Sink said, but with "almost 30" towns in Pinellas, she wondered why the county needs 30 fire departments, police agencies and other overlapping services. (Pinellas has 24 municipalities and 19 fire departments.) Officials, she said, should look at the best, most efficient way to provide services.

Sink's appearance at the league's annual conference came just three days after she became the first candidate to officially enter the race for governor. Sink, a former banking executive from Central Florida, is widely viewed as the Democratic Party's strongest candidate to take the governor's mansion in a decade.