Money saved is earned

Ritter touts savings plan, but critics say it’s not enough

Peter Marcus, DDN Staff Writer

Monday, June 30, 2008

Colorado government could reap $205 million in savings and benefits over the next five years if it were to cut back on certain expenses, institute new technologies and sustainable practices, and collect from places it currently does not, according to a savings and efficiency report released last week.

Ordered by Gov. Bill Ritter, the Government Efficiency and Management Performance Review contains 90 recommendations that run the gamut, from purchasing new energy-efficient equipment to switching to electronic communications rather than mailing paper documents.

“I committed to undertake a performance that would find savings, enhance revenues and deliver more effective services, because Colorado taxpayers deserve nothing less than the very best value for every tax dollar,” said Ritter.

Bipartisan lawmakers also praised the report saying it is broken down into “big dollar home runs” and “common sense base hits.”

“In these tough economic times, we all have to do a bit of belt-tightening, especially of government belts,” said Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, a member of the Joint Budget Committee.

The GEM review lasted a year and included surveys of nearly 12,000 government employees.

Some highlights include:

• Use sophisticated Medicaid fraud detection technology ($47.5 million savings).

• Improve procurement system ($12.4 million savings).

• New energy-efficient equipment, operations and contracting ($19.7 million savings).

• Reduce the size of the state vehicle fleet ($2.2 million savings).

• Increase out-of-state business audits ($36.9 in additional collections).

• Eliminate extra header/footer pages on paper reports ($20,800 savings).

• Automate documents and use electronic communications instead of mailing ($1 million savings).

• Add more shifts to maintenance garages to reduce outsourced repairs ($1.2 million savings).

Missed it by that much

Conservative think tank the Independence Institute — a harsh critic of government spending — says the report is a noble effort, but added that until Colorado government encourages competition with outside bids for government projects, little will change in the way of spending.

“You’ll never find real innovation in government spending without competition, which means competitively bidding on services,” said Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute. “Ritter needs to look at how to competitively contract out as many governmental services as possible.”

Caldara said he fears the report is only the first step toward asking taxpayers to authorize a tax increase.

“The timing here is to help Ritter sell a tax increase, so that he can look taxpayers in the eye and say we’ve done all we can, with a little sniff in his eye and a tear running down his cheek,” he said. “He’ll say we’ve done all we can, but there truly is more to be done to save taxpayers money.”

Just step one

Meanwhile, Ritter said the savings and efficiency report is just one step in a multi-pronged approach to cut government spending. He said a new plan is in the works to allow government agencies to identify savings and efficiencies for incentives. The agencies would be allowed to keep part of the savings they identify and propose ways to invest what they identify if the investment results in additional savings or efficiencies.

Ritter said the report is meant to act as a stepping stone to greater government accountability.

“It addresses issues, process and challenges unique to Colorado, and provides pragmatic solutions that don’t cost a fortune to implement,” he said. “These recommendations represent a significant step forward for state government, for our employees, and for our customers — the taxpaying public.”

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