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Can
We Start Reforming State Government Now?
Under
this year's tax hikes, an average Virginia family
will pay $650 more a year. To fend off another
round, we'd better get serious about streamlining
state government.
The
next two-year state budget, after a huge battle in Richmond
this spring, is fully 15 percent higher than the
last budget -- and a half billion dollars more than Gov. Mark R.
Warner requested.
And
one day after the General Assembly voted on a $1.3
billion two-year tax increase,
the state “recalculated” the figures and found
out that the new levies would actually bring in an
extra $300 million. So,
what did the legislators do with this new money?
They spent it all.
Now
we find that there will be a surplus of close to
$350 million in this year’s budget! So when you combine the new taxes with this
“newly discovered” surplus, the General Assembly
will spend -- and put into the Rainy Day Fund --
close to $2 billion more over the next two years!
If
our state budget continues to grow at this rate, it
will double in about ten years. And this growth rate
cannot be sustained under the current taxes that
burden us today.
So,
we either find a way to make government more
efficient, more accountable and more competitive in
the way it works or another budget crisis will face
us in a few short years.
Are
we faced with only one option? And is that option a continuing growth in
state government that will require higher and higher
taxes from each of us?
We
can and must do better. But it will take creativity and leadership.
First
and foremost, we need a truly understandable budget
document. The
Governor has issued an executive order based on
legislation submitted by Del.
Gary Reese
, R-Virginia Beach, to force a total redraft of the
state budget. This
bill might have passed the House next year, but
getting it through the Senate was iffy. The Governor understands the need for a true
“Citizens Budget” and is running with the idea. At a minimum, this newly designed budget
should show where our money is spent, the impact of
that spending, and a breakout of how it is allocated
to categories such as salaries, consultants, travel,
office overhead, etc.
This
is only a first step.
The General Assembly must do more.
For
instance, former Governor Doug Wilder’s Commission
last year found over $1.2 billion in savings that
could be found every year in state spending if the
General Assembly and the Governor would just make it
happen.
Over
six years ago the state identified more than 35,000
jobs that could be performed in the private sector.
Legislation passed this year will update these
numbers. If
these figures remain the same, as they should, more
than $700 million in every two year budget could be
saved if these positions were transferred to the
private sector.
And
the state’s auditor has suggested that state
agencies be required to use a special computer
program developed by the General Assembly supported
Commonwealth Competition Council to find the true
cost of government programs and activities. But this had never been required under the
budgeting procedure. This
is a sad commentary on our elected leaders.
Colorado’s effort to limit the growth of state government
to the rate of population and inflation has had an
important impact. That
success needs to be analyzed in order to bring a
similar spending limitation to Virginia.
Only by
restricting the income available to general
government spending will real spending reform ever
take center stage.
The
tax hike passed this year is about $650 for every
family of four each and every year.
Before
our elected leaders consider raising our taxes
again, they should truly reform state spending. They should look at all the programs.
Ideas from other states should be considered
here in Virginia. And the idea
of limiting the growth of government to the rate of
growth in population and inflation should be
seriously considered. This would mean that the burden of government
would remain constant in inflation adjusted dollars.
Important
statewide elections will be held next year.
This is the time to make government budgeting
and spending reform a central part of the platforms
of those running to represent us in Richmond.
--June
21, 2004
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