New Finance Director

Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz today introduced Thomas C. Skrobola as the city’s new finance director.

“Tom has been a leader in municipal government finance for more than two decades,” Mayor Kapszukiewicz said. “His experience and expertise makes him an excellent person for this important position. As director of management services and chief financial officer for the city of Kalamazoo, his team confronted many challenging issues with success.”

Mr. Skrobola has been property tax manager for the city of Detroit since August. He is responsible for managing the property tax process for the city of Detroit, involving more than $200 million of annual revenue. His accomplishments include redesigning the property tax refund process to be more efficient and designing the innovative Property Tax Savings Plan.

Mr. Skrobola was director of management services and chief financial officer for the city of Kalamazoo from June 2007 to May 2018. He oversaw the day-to-day operations and strategic direction of the management services department, which included a staff of 34 people. The department included debt administration, budgeting and accounting, accounts payable, payroll, retirement, treasury, assessing, and purchasing. During his tenure in Kalamazoo, Mr. Skrobola implemented an innovative Priority Based Budgeting model, data system, and high performance management scorecard system to re-focus the city budget presentation on programs that maximize results.

“I was a key member of the city manager’s team that instituted Priority Based Budgeting in 2015. It was an innovative model that re-focused budgeting analysis, presentations, and decisions toward programs and priorities, rather than simply line items and objects,” Mr. Skrobola said. “I am very excited about Toledo and the positive momentum in the city. I want to thank the mayor for inviting me to join his dynamic team.”

Mr. Skrobola saved the city more than $6 million of annual expenses through an early retirement initiative in 2011-12. The initiative reduced nearly 100 positions without layoffs while preserving priority programs. Some of his other major projects in Kalamazoo included a new enterprise-wide data system to facilitate transparency, performance reporting, and goal tracking; a new downtown financing plan, and negotiating long-term regional cooperation with townships in the Kalamazoo area for water/wastewater utilities.

Mr. Skrobola was previously the finance director and treasurer for Rochester, Mich. from June 1998 to June 2007.