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Efficiences Won't Bring Balance to State Budget

State leaders are having a difficult time balancing the state budget by eliminating waste and inefficiency.

Despite Gov. Craig Benson's rhetoric, the efforts of the Efficiency Commission, and hasty work in the state Senate, projected savings don't begin to touch the state's structural deficit.

SEA members, wearing "Protect Public Services," have stood shoulder to shoulder in opposition to privatization of the prison system, one of the recommendations of the Efficiency Commission.

Critics have complained that the Senate was rushing to judgment as it considered a major government reorganization bill, SB 535. Amended to remove language privatizing the Multiple Offender Program, it passed the Senate on March 17.

 Small Savings

Even Sen. Robert Clegg, the bill's prime sponsor, said the savings would amount to about $400,000. That figure pales in comparison with a projected deficit that could reach $52 million by the end of June 2005.

Sen. Richard Green, the chair of the Finance Committee, told the Executive Departments and Administration Committee that he had not been able to find significant savings after reviewing the bill for two full days.

"There will be no savings," he said. "It's not there."

 Union Supports Efficiency

SEA supports true efficiency in government. The union cooperated with the Efficiency Commission, facilitating meetings between commission representatives and state employees.

Rep. Neal Kurk and Sen. Richard Green, chairs of the House and Senate Finance committees,  have searched, without major success, for costs savings through efficiency.

Although SEA President Paul Stokes testified against privatizing MOP, he endorsed some of the goals of the reorganization bill.

"We can't find a lot of fault with a lot of the bill," he said.

For example, the union supported transferring New Hampshire Hospital campus police from Health and Human Services to the Department of Safety. He also said the union had no problem moving responsibility for state building public works projects from the Department of Transportation to Administrative Services.

 Inherently Wasteful?

The real risk to state government and the people it serves comes from a belief that essential services are inherently wasteful, no matter how efficiently they are delivered.

After months of study, the Efficiency Commission identified nearly $78 million in savings that will come directly from the budgets of state employees and their families: privatizing the prison and probation and parole system, shifting health insurance costs to employees, and unspecified reductions in personnel costs.

SEA members and leaders will continue to resist the givebacks that have left state employees working under a contract in evergreen status. They are also looking toward the November elections, which will give us an opportunity to elect leaders who value public services efficiently delivered.