Still Waiting for Actual Budget Reform

Governor Perdue’s Budget Reform & Accountability Commission  (BRAC) met this afternoon to approve recommendations allegedly created to “improve government performance and efficiency.”

When the Commission was formed, Gov. Perdue promised us that it would look “deep” and not be afraid of making “tough recommendations.”

At that time, I examined the list of Commission members and expressed my skepticism that the committee would look very deep. So, what were some of those “tough recommendations” that the Commission dug “deep” to find? They include:

• Encouraging the Governor to advocate policies that promote accountability an transparency in the ABC system. There are now 169 legally authorized ABC Boards, and the Commission thinks that a “tough recommendation” includes greater state oversight of them. Such oversight would include limiting compensation to local Board members, subjecting local Board members to state ethics rules and an attempt to “optimize revenue distribution” of the Boards. In other words, more top-down, centralized control. Never mind actually privatizing the system in order to save the state millions and lessening the State’s grip on its citizens actions. This recommendation digs about as “deep” as the headline news from this past winter.
• Consolidating the Dep’t of Commerce and DOT aircraft fleets under one umbrella. The Commerce fleet of aircraft would be shifted under the management of the state DOT. But the Commission did emphasize that the airplane’s top priority would be economic development recruitment. In short, the Commission would have your gas tax pay for Gov. Perdue’s corporate welfare junkets to rub-elbows with billionaires. Who needs money for roads and bridges? This recommendation admittedly will not save much (if any) money as acknowledged by a member of the Commission. Note, the state owns 70 aircraft that belong to various state agencies. The Commission did not recommend reducing this number. What a “tough recommendation” this one was!

Other recommendations included contracting out facilities maintanence for a few corrections facilities – something that is a step in the right direction but will amount to unnoticeable savings and is well behind other states, and creating a new web page for the state. Previous recommendations discussed include tweaking the state’s procurement procedures and IT consolidation.

The work of the Commission is sadly predictable. Nitpicking around the edges without anything truly meaningful. Compare what the Commission came up with to ten recommendations I offered a few months ago.