Supporting Local Government with Budget Preparation

Chris Lowe works with Government Professional Solutions (GPS), a consulting firm founded by former city managers. He holds a juris doctor from Marquette University and was previously the city manager for Monument, Colorado. Chris Lowe brings his experience as a city administrator in Monument, Colorado, to GPS where they provide local government and accounting agencies with strategic planning and annual budgeting services.

Local government and agencies know that the annual budgeting process is necessary to keep services running. In the public sector, developing the annual budget goes beyond simple number crunching; it forms part of a strategic plan, and it must consider all stakeholders’ priorities.

Local government and other agencies may sometimes need the help of budgeting support services before they submit their budget for approval to the relevant statutory bodies. It ensures their annual budgets are prepared professionally and that resources are allocated to those line items that support better service delivery.

Kansas Library Avoids Worldwide Decline Trend with $777,000 Expansion

Chris Lowe is the town manager of the town of Monument, Colorado. In this and other similar roles such as city administrator of Baldwin, Kansas, Chris Lowe has provided a professional service in public service to local government in Monument, Colorado through his business GovernmentPros.

GovernmentPros is a consultancy firm dedicated to helping local-scale governments manage their infrastructure, providing consistent services and economic growth for the people who live there. Elected government officials and managers can be overburdened and stretched thin by the wide-ranging needs of their electorate, not to mention the fact that it is possible that no one suited to a particular task might be elected in any given election season. If a public service is underfunded it sometimes requires someone with specialist knowledge to get that service operating at its best again.

Thanks to government cuts the capabilities of US public libraries have been on the decline for decades, but GovernmentPros was able to secure a $777,000 expansion of the Kansas Public Library in 2018. This is a feat that goes against the current trend of public libraries having to make compromises to their service over the years, and it can be expected that the Kansas Public Library will be a hub of learning for some time.

Municipal Consultants Bridge Gap Between Public and Private Sectors

Chris Lowe spent three years in Monument, Colorado from 2015 to 2018 serving the mayor as a town manager. Before that Chris Lowe was in Baldwin City, Kansas as a city administrator. In both these roles he represented the municipal consulting firm GovernmentPros.

In the role of city administrator it is important to bridge the gap between the public and private sector. In the case of Baldwin City, the business park lacked the same provisions for water, electricity, and waste disposal as the rest of the city. The private sector of any city has a degree of self-sufficiency, as is the nature of private enterprise, but if it is neglected by the local government it is likely that such enterprises will struggle to grow or provide an increased standard of living in the surrounding area.

It required cooperation between the public and private sector, mediated by GovernmentPros, to extend sewer and electric service into the business park. As of 2015, the area saw an increased sense of community as standards of living were equalized and raised across the board. With the private sector given support in a timely manner by the local government it was able to flourish without burden and grow the city’s economy.