Andrew Statz, the city of Madison's first fiscal efficiency auditor, will leave his position to take over a similar job with the school district, according to Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's blog.
The mayor praised Statz's work for the city throughout his tenure in the position and said he will have a positive impact on the Madison School District.
""We'll miss Andrew around these parts, but we're glad he's bringing his expertise to the aid of our schools,"" Cieslewicz said on his blog. ""We look forward to finding someone with similar skills to keep this valuable city position saving money for our taxpayers.""
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, echoed Cieslewicz's praise of Statz.
""The city's loss is the school district's gain,"" Verveer said.
Cieslewicz created the fiscal efficiency auditor position a few years ago to work directly with the mayor on watching the city's budget.
Statz worked closely with issues surrounding the Overture Center, analyzing the debt restructuring in 2005. Cieslewicz said the past few months of meetings and issues involving the center would not have been necessary had the City Council listened to Statz's analysis.
""The resolution of the debt that a different Council passed in December was made necessary because not enough people listened to Andrew Statz in 2005,"" Cieslewicz said.
Cieslewicz also mentioned two situations in which Statz was able to find holes in the city budget and saved $140,000 and $180,000.
Statz also established management tools for the city such as Madison Measures, Neighborhood Indicators and The Natural Step environmental program.
