March 11, 2009

Budget Watch: Highlighting the Budget Lowlights

"Government Efficiency Measures"

It may be debatable whether “government efficiency” is an oxymoron, but we should all at least agree on what the phrase means.

Governor Doyle’s “Executive Budget” summary of his proposed 2009-11 state budget boasts a number of provisions under the heading of “Government Efficiency Measures”. 

Among these is the repeal of a 2006 law requiring the state to conduct cost-benefit analyses prior to approving private contracts to determine if state employees could perform the work less expensively.

This “efficiency” is a short-sighted savings that will lead to much higher costs for state taxpayers in the end.  It’s akin to avoiding the cost of a $10 wrench for a home repair, but hiring an $80-an-hour plumber to do the job for you.

Whether it’s a household, business or government budget, it makes sense to do some homework to make cost-conscious spending decisions.  It’s an approach that makes so much sense that the Legislature unanimously passed – and the Governor signed – the bill he now wants to repeal.  The Legislature should retain this law when it acts on the budget bill in the months ahead.

Source: “Executive Budget”, Page 22

Government Efficiency Measures

The Governor recommends reducing expenditure and positions authority in the department's state operations and aids appropriations in the amounts shown to create additional operational efficiencies and balance the budget by: (a) requiring the department to contract with the University of Wisconsin, Applied Population Lab for demographics services and deleting 2.5 FTE GPR positions; (b) deleting a deputy  division administrator position; (c) allowing Executive Budget documents to only be posted on the department's Internet Web site; (d) repealing the requirement that state agencies complete a base budget review every third biennium; (e) requiring the secretary to review the maintenance staffing at state buildings and reorganize under the department where efficiencies could be gained; (f) deleting the requirement to complete a cost benefit analysis for certain items.