Reorganization bill part of '$270 million step' toward leaner government: Culver

The Gazette

DES MOINES – Iowa took a “$270 million step'' toward leaner, more efficient state government Wednesday, Gov. Chet Culver said Wednesday as he signed a government reorganization bill into law.

“A big step, a historic step,” Culver said after signing Senate File 2088, which he said will help the state $270 million this year.

As a result of the bill, which had broad bipartisan support, Iowans will see a “leaner, more efficient government … in terms of saving them $270 million in taxpayer money,” Culver said. “We're going to be doing as much if not more with less.”

Only half of that $270 million in savings is in SF 2088. The remainder comes from an executive order Culver issued implementing various savings and an early retirement package lawmakers approved earlier this session.

For Culver, the implications of the law go beyond good public policy. It's helping the first-term Democrat make good on a campaign promise as he approaches a re-election campaign. Four years ago, he promised to save at least $250 million in taxpayer money.

“Today we are delivering on that promise,” he said. “So we're not only moving this state forward and getting the people's work done, but we're making government more efficient, more lean. The taxpayers of Iowa expect that.”

Not only do they expect it, but they participated in the process, according to House State Government Committee Chairwoman Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City. She thanked the Iowans who visited various state Internet Web sites to offer suggestions, some of which were included in the legislation developed by a Senate-House committee that met over the summer.

It resulted in the largest state government reorganization effort in at least 25 years, according to Mascher and Senate floor manager, Sen. Staci Appel, D-Ackworth.

“What was once good for Iowa in 1985 no longer holds true in 2010,” Appel said.

While some decisions were “simple solutions,” Appel said others “were difficult and tedious to sort out.”

“Our taxpayers deserve this attention to detail and they deserve to see us save $125 million with these efficiencies,” she said, referring to the savings in the state's $5.3 billion general fund budget. The remainder of the $270 million in savings comes from the rest of the state's total annual spending of about $15 billion.

Republicans applauded the savings, too, but faintly.

“We had an opportunity to do more,” said Rep. Scott Raecker, R-Urbandale, a member of the House Appropriations Committee. Republicans offered $290 million more in savings that were not accepted by majority Democrats. “It makes no sense to leave some of those ideas on the table if they could be driven into higher priorities.”

SF 2088 resulted in $70 million in savings in the $5.3 billion general fund budget. Republicans insist the use of one-time funds and underfunding Medicaid by about $500 million results in a $6.1 billion general fund budget. Total state spending is about $15 billion, Raecker said.

The impact of SF 2088, the governor's executive order and the early retirement package is easier to understand if put in terms of a household budget of a family with an annual income of $53,000 and expenses of $61,000, he said. In that case, the family has just found $700 through efficiencies, he said.

“I think Iowans will be able to make the judgment if they think it's relatively a lot,” Raecker said about the savings.

The overall savings of $270 million comes out of the state's total budget of about $15 billion a year. In comparison, it's as if his hypothetical family with a $53,000 income and $150,000 in expenses finding $2,500 in savings, he said.

By James Q. Lynch