Matt Benoit Email & Phone Number

Jupiter, Florida, United States

City in Palm Beach with ~61K inhabitants and government with 5 Councilors, 375 full-time staff, and $110M+ budget.Selected for previous 16 years' success in city management to direct operations for 375 staff in 12 city departments, including strategic planning, budgeting, community and stakeholder relations, with goal of optimizing tax revenue expenditure, ensuring top service quality, and maintaining long-term quality of life and government efficiency.• Guided City Council in realigning strategic plan with revenues, demographic trends, budget realities, and key operational and capital needs to drive more realistic strategic plan providing important services without added taxes.• Reversed excessive personnel expenditure preventing delivery of key services by strategic analysis of operating model and staffing needs, enabling right-sizing of workforce and saving $2M per year to capital and service priorities.• Boosted city revenue, brought in 100s of professional, and injected funds into local economy by identifying suitability of city land parcel expanding biotech company, recruiting company, and negotiating lease favorable to city.• Negotiated favorable settlements to 4 large, complex lawsuits against city involving multiple parties and insurance carriers that will improve tourism opportunities and jobs, and significantly contribute to the local economy.• Won collaboration and goal alignment between City Council and departments by personally working with all involved leaders to ensure common understanding of community needs and government priorities.

Huntsville, Tx

Walker County, TX seat with ~46K inhabitants, 9-person Council, 10 departments, 279 employees, and $70M budget.Full operational oversight and planning leadership for 10 departments, guiding Council in strategy development and directing execution of city's strategic directives. Ensured operational / budget alignment and resource prioritization.• Enabled major upgrades to inadequate, neglected infrastructure at time of population growth by winning public approval for $128M in debt funding through 3 successful referendum proposals all passed with significant margins.• Developed new planning and budget process for more efficient policy input, helping Councilors better grasp political and financial consequences of budget choices, enabling near-unanimous budget approval each year of tenure.• Implemented formal, standardized strategic planning process to coordinate divergent stakeholder input, and help Council conduct effective long-term planning with less political disagreement and better transparency and credibility.• Delivered balanced budget throughout 6-year tenure, always without a tax increase, and always winning sufficient votes for budget adoption.

Farmers Branch, Tx

Part of Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. ~29K population, budget of $36.3M, and 187 full-time staff.Led strategic planning process and co-managed daily operations for urban county seat. Directed key operational and capital improvement projects. Leveraged strong budgeting and financial forecasting skills to consistently meet targets.• Asked by City Manager to reverse revenue decline at municipal golf course, major revenue source, winning Council approval for major renovation, gaining consensus among stakeholder interest, and delivering program per targets.• Directed cross-functional, multi-department project to design and build $16.5M emergency communications systems upgrade, ensuring maximum performance for expenditure, and meeting all project milestones.

Wichita Falls, Tx

Seat of Wichita County, Tx with ~104K population, budget of ~$17.4M, and 90 full-time employees.Oversaw financial analysis and forecasting, developed yearly budget, and presented it to City Manager and City Council. Monitored execution of strategic plan, ensuring delivery of all targets. Co-managed daily operations.• Identified and captures savings of $1.47M per year while improving service delivery by developing and implementing plan to consolidate Public Works and Engineering Departments and outsource solid waste services.• Led multi-department consortium in analyzing city recreational needs, and developing and presenting plan for comprehensive recreational trail program to increase quality of life and encourage growth.

Bachelor Of Arts, History And Political Science

Master Of Public Administration (Mpa)