Editorial: Budget Group's Work Just Skims the Surface

Athens Banner-Herald
February 11, 2010

The purpose of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle's recently appointed state budget task force - as his office's January announcement indicated - is to "provide meaningful recommendations for budget solutions."

If the task force's first two legislative proposals are any indication, the group's work will fall far short of Cagle's assurances that it would find ways for the state to cut spending without drastically reducing government services during the ongoing economic downturn.

Earlier this week, state Sen. Jim Butterworth, R-Cornelia, introduced Senate Bill 388, the Paperwork Reduction Act, which calls for state agencies to distribute materials such as lengthy reports electronically. According to media reports, the bill could result in $7 million in savings by reducing the use of paper by state government agencies.

That's not an inconsequential amount of money, but it falls far short of bringing the state government in line with current fiscal realities. The ongoing economic downturn is forcing more than $1 billion in cuts to the state's current budget, the fiscal year 2010 spending plan, and as the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported late last week, "lawmakers will take up an $18.2 billion fiscal 2011 budget with less federal stimulus money and other one-time revenue than is available in fiscal 2010." For the current fiscal year, the state has collected almost 13 percent less in taxes than in the previous fiscal year, and state revenues for January were down 8.7 percent from a year ago, according to media reports.

Clearly, a far more serious, and far deeper, look at how and where the state spends its money is needed if state lawmakers are to get "meaningful recommendations for budget solutions." Just as clearly, Cagle's task force is, at least for now, appearing not to be the vehicle for those serious recommendations.

It is, in fact, difficult to see how the second piece of legislation resulting from the task force's work will do anything at all to help the state meet the current fiscal challenges. Senate Bill 389, the Transparency in Government Act, will, according to a report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, expand and enhance the state's opengeorgia.gov Web site, which provides financial data, including salaries, on state agencies.

Butterworth told the Atlanta newspaper the bill will open the fiscal actions of the state legislature to public scrutiny. While that's certainly not a bad thing, it's hard to see how it addresses the state's immediate need for creative solutions for balancing declining revenues with the ongoing provision of government services.

According to last month's announcement from the lieutenant governor's office, the task force is scheduled to present "a list of recommendations in early February." An indication of possibly forthcoming recommendations was included in last week's Atlanta Business Chronicle report, which noted that the task force is expected to recommend "among other things" that the state transact more business electronically to, for one thing, reduce the half-million paper checks it issues annually. The task force also could recommend consolidating payroll services, which now are managed differently by state agencies.

Additionally, the task force also is expected to recommend "an aggressive approach to preventive health care for enrollees in the State Health Benefit Plan," to "include offering incentives to patients with chronic diseases who take their prescriptions regularly."

In connection with the task force's work, Cagle has noted on more than one occasion the group's discovery, noted in the Atlanta Business Chronicle report, that four state agencies - the secretary of state's office, the insurance and agriculture departments, and the state Environmental Protection Division - have roles with regard to retail gasoline sales.

All of these things - paperwork reduction, consolidation of effort, attention to preventive health care, and better coordination of government agencies' work - almost certainly would reduce
state government expenses.

But, fiscally speaking, this state is long past being able to nibble around the bureaucratic edges to effectively address its dramatic budget shortfall. The task force appears to have done some good work, but if Cagle and other lawmakers believe that work, at least as it has been revealed thus far, will be sufficient to see the state through its current fiscal trials, they simply are mistaken.

Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Thursday, February 11, 2010

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/021110/opi_561253061.shtml

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