The Government Efficiency initiative identifies strategies to reduce expenses and provide recommendations to lower the Clerk's budget ensuring the prudent use of taxpayer funds. It is also intended to eliminate or streamline burdensome or outdated processes, ultimately saving personnel time and resources, which also indirectly save taxpayer funds.  As the program continues, Clerk Karnes hopes to identify areas of improvement that may require changes to Florida Statutes in order to accomplish a measurable savings. 

 Submit Tips

If you have tips regarding the Clerk's budget and operations, you may submit it anonymously using the Citizen Input Form below. 

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This initiative is specific and unique to the Lee Clerk, not all of Lee County government. Tips are not being accepted at this time for anything outside the scope of the Clerk's budget and operations. However, you may report fraud, waste, and abuse in the Clerk's office, Port Authority and Board of County Commissioners, using the Inspector General Hotline form. 

Top Reductions & Savings

As part of a comprehensive Fiscal Year 2026 line item budget review, the Clerk  implemented targeted cost-saving measures that will result in a reduction of more than $787,000, representing a 4.7% decrease in the overall budget.

Healthcare Cost Sharing - Estimated Savings: $250,000

Implemented a partial pass-through of health insurance premium increases to employees to better align with statewide cost-sharing trends.

Legal Services Consolidation - Estimated Savings: $105,000

Centralized the legal services budget under a single department, reducing duplicative funding requests and improving oversight.

Travel Reductions - Estimated Savings: $92,034

Reduced discretionary and out-of-county travel across all business units, prioritizing virtual participation and local resources where possible.

Leave Policy Revisions - Estimated Savings: $50,000

Modified leave accrual and payout policies to minimize future liabilities and reduce unbudgeted payout exposure upon employee separation.

Elimination of Financial Reports - Estimated Savings: $6,200

The Finance team has worked to reduce the frequency in which certain financial reports are produced in order to save staff time and focus on value added processes. This has resulted in the elimination of over 150 hours of time savings.

Inspector General Relocation - Estimated Savings: $8,700

The Inspector General Department has been relocated and vacated their existing space, which has been turned back over to the BoCC for their use. During this relocation, we identified space in existing facilities to relocate the Inspector General department. This relocation results in a $8,700 reduction in Constitutional Support from the BoCC.

Hardware Review - Estimated Savings: $25,000

Through an analysis of our current electronic devices we found an opportunity to eliminate 25 devices total over $25,000 in savings annually. This analysis evaluated current devices assigned to individuals and eliminated duplicate devices.