Florida Regulator Readies Plan For Downsizing His Agency

The Florida comptroller's office is pushing a plan to whittle staff and operating costs by 1999.

The agency, which regulates Sunshine State banking, securities, and other financial services, intends to slash 10% of its 851 jobs and 12% of its costs within four years, Florida Comptroller Robert F. Milligan said in an interview.

The regulator, who is responsible for 233 state-chartered banks, plans to achieve the reductions by cutting midlevel posts, delegating more authority to field offices, and modernizing operations.

"We're pushing decision-making down to the field," said Mr. Milligan, a retired three-star Marine Corps general who was elected to the post last fall while promising to reform the office. "We are attempting to build a department that is responsive to (financial institutions' needs) and the consumer's needs."

Mr. Milligan plans to submit his plan Friday to the state Legislature.

Gilford G. Robinson, a Marine buddy of Mr. Milligan's who was appointed director of the Orlando region in June, said that transfering power from Tallahassee allows for more rapid reaction.

"It cuts down tremendously on the time it takes," he said. "Last week, I cleared a case that was five years old. These things shouldn't be allowed to happen."

Delegated power also means more flexibility in dealing with consumer fraud, Mr. Robinson said.

"In the past, most of what we've done has been reactive," he said. "Now, we're building an information network to get in front of scams so we can get information out quickly to consumers."

Mr. Milligan also wants to cut corners by modernizing the department's accounting system.

"Our current auditing and accounting system is very manual," Mr. Milligan said. "We want to take advantage of, not rocket-science technology, but what's there in the marketplace. A good deal of what we do can be done with automation."

Counting a trust fund, the department's 1995 budget is about $60 million; Mr. Milligan wants to cut this to $53 million by 1999.

Besides seeking to cut his agency, Mr. Milligan wants to limit the scope of his job.

Florida is the only state that elects its banking regulator and allows the official to accept campaign contributions from supervised institutions. Although Mr. Milligan believes that the state's chief fiscal officer should be elected, he wants to spin off the regulatory function to an appointed official.

This year, he appointed a 22-person committee to study how to divide the comptroller's responsibilities. The group now is getting into the nitty- gritty of the split, and a final report should be delivered by November.

Mr. Milligan wants to push a decoupling bill in 1996.

"We'll do what we need to accomplish it," he said.

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