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Keep
the Ball Rolling
Gov.
Warner has initiated important reforms to improve
efficiency in state government. It's imperative
that the next governor and General Assembly pick
up where he left off.
It’s
time to focus the strong light of public opinion
on the way state government manages our money.
A lot can be done by the next governor and
members of the General Assembly who are truly
interested in better government.
State
government should spend the working public’s
money in the most efficient way possible.
Gov. Mark R. Warner has initiated several
promising efforts. His
Secretary of Administration, Sandra Bowen, has
laid the groundwork for serious reform by the next
governor. Some
legislative building blocks have been put into
place. And
public surveys continually show strong support for
reforming the way government spends our money.
The
statewide elections next year are an ideal forum
to bring true government reform to the center of
public discussion. A
vision of true reform can catch the imagination of
the public by the leader willing to take on this
issue. Here
are a few ideas for starters.
First
and foremost is the absolute necessity to create a
wholly new budget document that can be more easily
understood by legislators, business leaders, the
news media and community activists.
The budget is the single most important
statewide policy document — it establishes
priorities and policy goals. Most states have crafted budget documents
that are easily understood and clearly show what
taxpayers receive for their money. Virginia’s
budget document is one of the most Byzantine,
obtuse and purposefully arcane budget documents in
the nation. It
is a travesty that in today’s modern world Richmond
continues to hide how state money is spent and it
fails miserably in setting goals and priorities.
Earlier
this year, Gov. Warner signed an executive order
indicating that he would appoint a working group
to create a state budget document that was more
easily understood and significantly more
transparent. But to date no such working group has
been created.
The
General Assembly should pass legislation authored
by Del. Gary Reese, R-Fairfax, mandating a more
easily understood budget document, such as the
"Citizens' Budget" suggested by the
Thomas Jefferson Institute a year ago. We cannot
move forward with serious budget reform without a
budget document that shows where our money spent
and what we get for that spending. Other states have created a very user
friendly budget and so must Virginia.
Second,
the Governor, in that same Executive Order, said
he would appoint a state inspector general.
This new office would have the authority to
look into how the state spends money, looking for
waste, fraud, abuse, and more efficient uses of
state money — this is similar to what inspector
generals do in other states.
This inspector general is an essential
piece to real government reform.
Yet, once again, this idea languishes in
the Governor’s office.
The General Assembly should pass
legislation creating this position.
Third,
let’s free our colleges and universities from
the rules and regulations that only cost all of us
more money. Every
college and university will tell you that the
state’s overseeing of construction adds 20
percent to the cost of construction. Why not free our colleges and universities
from Richmond
bureaucrats and allow these institutions to construct
their buildings faster and quicker? Our voters recently passed a $900 million
bond for college construction. Ending the
Richmond
middleman process would give colleges between
$180 and $270 million in added funds, at no
additional cost to the taxpayers. When the Governor says more money is needed
for buildings and maintenance on our campuses, it
can likely be “found” through getting the
state out of the micro-managing of current
construction projects. The current system makes no sense and
should be changed.
Fourth,
VDOT reform should be the top priority of whomever
is our next governor.
With strong leadership, transportation
spending can be more efficient and effective.
Under this governor the on-time completion
rate has significantly improved, but we must do
more.
There
are
many other avenues for improvement. We
can solicit more public-private partnerships,
which invite fresh ideas for tackling
transportation bottlenecks, bring in private
investment and generate additional revenues
through tolls. We can expand the private sector
asset-management that has proven successful on a
small percentage of our state roads. We can reduce
the number of VDOT employees through attrition,
with particular focus on those “walk around”
employees we all see at VDOT projects across the
state. We can address why it takes so long for
VDOT to decide on using private contractors on
projects such as the expansion of I-81 through the
Shenandoah Valley when many millions of dollars
can be saved and that improvement can be completed
several years earlier.
The
potential of hundreds of millions of dollars in
savings waits for those who have the courage to be
true leaders in this field.
Hopefully, this will be a central focus of
next year’s statewide elections.
When additional taxes are always lurking in
the background, those who want more money should
be in the forefront of making sure the current
taxes are spent as efficiently and as
transparently as possible.
And those who are opposed to increased
taxes should make sure that current taxes are
spent in the best business-like fashion.
--
November 1, 2004
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