State Auditor Rob Sand launched his 2026 Public Innovations and Efficiencies (PIE) awards tour on Jan. 29, hand-delivering pies and certificates to four winners in Northeast Iowa.

“Congratulations to this year’s PIE winners, and a big thanks to all the participants. You’ve shown that saving taxpayers money can be sweet,” said Sand. “Recognizing community leaders for their efforts with a pie is just the cherry on top. Taxpayers are the real winners.”

Sand launched the nationally recognized PIE program in 2019. It is designed to help Iowa communities slash waste and save tax dollars by sharing creative, common-sense ideas to improve efficiency. Approximately 500 counties, cities and school districts across the state submit annual entries referred to as “PIE Recipes.”

“The PIE recipe is simple: small changes can lead to significant savings for local governments, and when they share their ideas statewide, the savings grow, potentially into millions of dollars,” said Sand. “That’s why I’ve proposed legislation to create a state-backed PIE program that would include compiling all of these innovative, money-saving strategies in an annual report.”

Sand last week delivered PIE awards to the cities of Spragueville and Guttenberg, Clayton County and the Allamakee Community School District. Their “PIE Recipes” included reducing travel costs by encouraging teleconferencing, creating a food rescue program, purchasing energy-efficient appliances and repairing broken faucets and toilets to reduce water consumption.

When possible, pies are purchased from local bakeries. The raspberry, blueberry and pumpkin pies delivered to Guttenberg, Clayton County and Allamakee Community School District, respectively, were purchased from Rausch’s Cafe in Guttenberg.