3/25/2008
State programs to cut? - Volume II
Three basic concepts of any solution to Wisconsin’s current budget mess:
- It’s probably not the best time to be increasing taxes
- The projected deficit in 2009 at the end of the biennium is predicted to be $650+ million – with many good assumptions increasing that to over $1B.
- The deficit, at the end of the last budget was well over $2B!
We’re starting to talk some serious numbers.
So, it should be apparent (is it?) to most of us that it’s time to cut back on spending. Last week, I suggested possible programs to cut, to get the conversation started.
More thoughts have surfaced since.
Check out what New Jersey Democratic Governor Jon Corzine is threatening:
Corzine, who presided over mergers and acquisitions as chairman of Goldman Sachs, is telling hundreds of New Jersey's smallest towns and boroughs that they are too small to exist. Multiple layers of government are financially wasteful, he says, and the littlest towns and boroughs need to merge with their bigger neighbors to achieve economies of scale.
Corzine's incentive -- more like a hammer -- is a threatened cutoff of state aid. Under the governor's proposed budget, the state's 323 towns with populations of fewer than 10,000 people would face drastic cuts if they do not consolidate. Towns with populations between 5,000 and 10,000 people would see their aid sliced in half. Those with more than 10,000 would have their aid frozen at 2007 levels. And those… with fewer than 5,000 people, would get zero state funding. Zilch.
323? Wisconsin has about 550 cities, villages and towns that are less than 10,000 in population – and that doesn’t even count those towns less than 2,500 that the Blue Book doesn’t list. Wow. Is there duplication? Surely would seem there’s a whole lot more efficient way of managing the hundreds and hundreds of units of government in Wisconsin.
More ideas surfaced from comments in response to my earlier article on Possible Program Cuts.
- Reverse the legislators’ salary increase and cut or eliminate per diem reimbursement. (From Jack Lohman: according to WDC, the legislature voted 8-1 to increase legislative pay 6.3 percent to $50,438 in 2009. Add to that an average $8,771 in food and lodging expenses a year.)
- Look at Technical College budgets. (With no elected board minding the store, Tech College budgets have increased at greater than cities and schools in the last decade.)
- Cut (or eliminate?) the Highway Patrol, as many of their services are duplicated by county and local law enforcement.
- Cut Real ID.
- Get creative in education, use more paraprofessionals.
- Don’t start any new state highway construction.
- Cut the “Department of Concrete” (Transportation, I’m assuming…) by 50%.
- Eliminate the Department of Tourism.
As I said in my last piece about this, it isn’t easy. Some of the suggestions above are less doable and less serious than others – but they are suggestions. We’ve got to do something. And no more smoke and mirrors to solve the state’s budget problems. It’s serious business and must be addressed.
COMMENTS
I think that if we can get past the name on the police car, fire truck, rec program, school district, library, jail, to name a few, great savings could be realized over time. How many county supervisors do we really need, for that matter how many counties? Maybe a realignmeent of county boarders; the city of Appleton encompasses three counties, there has to be savings just in gas to electors and officals that need to do business at the courthouse. Everyone needs to give up a little of their fiefdom.
Hear, hear. I'm with you. JE
Bruce Sherman (Tue Mar 25 10:11:45 2008)
This quote is so good, I may have it tattooed on my chest:
"Conservatives cannot govern well for the same reason that vegetarians cannot prepare a world-class boeuf bourguignon: If you believe that what you are called upon to do is wrong, you are unlikely to do it very well."
Quoted from "Why Conservatives Can't Govern" in Washington Monthly, July- August 2006.
On this particular topic my take is that these ideas are not so much myopic as looking through the wrong end of the telescope. Focusing on education and tourism when there is a free lunch going on for the private sector in virtually anything you can name when it comes to shaving off paying their fair share is how the shortfall mess was created.
I'll agree that no new superhighways be contracted. That leaves maintenance of what we have and that is falling way behind. In a similar vein, public construction projects of questionable value such as more jails and police stations should also be put back on the table for review.
Lastly the Mayberry governments in smaller towns may be the last bastion of community safe from privatization.
Going back to the quote which started this, the benighted view that what is good for the corporate world cannot be distinguished from what is good government is the true myopia.
Lon Ponschock (Tue Mar 25 11:49:02 2008)
Most likely a tiny drop, but WI should inform the Republican and Democrat (and all others) Parties that the state will no longer expend resources helping them select a nominee.
Marcus Auerlius (Tue Mar 25 12:53:22 2008)
I have on occasion traveled to one or two State 2 Year University sites, very nice and usually land rich. Merging these 2 yr programs, requiring acceptable accreditation requirements, with the Technical College system would cut expenses for these educational systems,as well as possibly eliminating the 2 Year sites altogether and selling the real estate. I've heard this proposed before, but again, these cows walk the streets of Wisconsin too sacred to put down.
Good suggestion Richard. Probably not a popular one... One of the areas in which WI spending is higher than other states, per capita, is higher education capital assets. We have many more campuses closer to many more people than most states in the nation. Some will argue that's a necessity. A wonderful thing to have colleges in our backyards, but it comes at a price. JE
Richard Parins (Tue Mar 25 14:15:28 2008)
Why not cut ALL state aid to ALL cities? I live in a township that has the lowest tax base in my county. Why should we bail out the big guys? In my experience, small towns and cities manage their budgets MUCH better than, say, Milwauke...
If we "merged" with, say, Kiel, New Holstein, School Hill, and Chilton, who would have the fire engines? The ambulances? The snow plows? As it is, the response time for those in the country isn't the greatest. Merging would make that much worse. As long as we can manage to pay for our own emergency equipment, why take that away from us? We use less state money than the big guys, that's for certain!
emily matthews (Wed Mar 26 16:13:28 2008)
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