Posted under Budget
Yesterday, the Capital published an Op-Ed I wrote about how Maryland can make its budget leaner and more efficient. Here’s an excerpt:
I have spent the past several months knocking on doors in Broadneck, Annapolis and south county, talking to Marylanders about their concerns. One topic keeps coming up: The state budget.
There’s a good reason: Maryland faces at least a $6 billion structural deficit over the next four years. We should not try to solve this problem through tax increases and furloughs. We need to take the problem head on by making government leaner and more efficient.
To do so, we need to open ourselves up to new solutions. Here are some ideas worth considering:
1. Switch most state employees to a four-day, 40-hour work week. By doing this, the state could close most offices on Friday. Police, firefighters, prisons, courts and other essential services would continue to operate on a regular schedule. Utah implemented this schedule last year and saved millions by reducing energy use 13 percent and cutting maintenance bills. Employees saved over $6 million on gasoline and had more flexibility to spend time with their families. Citizens benefit because state agencies are open later, giving them more flexibility. Maryland, with more than twice the population of Utah, could enjoy even greater savings.
2. End special interest giveaways. Maryland plans to spend over $40 million between now and 2020 subsidizing the purchase of coal. This is not only a waste of money, it runs counter to our goal of increasing the use of green, renewable resources. The state fails to even calculate the cost of dozens of other special interest tax breaks. All of these measures should be scrutinized and eliminated, where appropriate.
3. Embrace open source software. The state should stop paying millions of dollars to companies such as Microsoft for bloated software full of features most state employees do not use. Open source software is available for free or at a nominal cost. For example, while Microsoft Office costs hundreds of dollars, OpenOffice is a free alternative with virtually identical functionality. A recent study found the federal government could save nearly $4 billion a year by switching to open source software. Maryland could certainly reap substantial savings. Moreover, IT experts say open source software is now more secure than its traditional counterparts.
4. Eliminate or consolidate state boards and agencies. There are some state agencies we can eliminate completely. For example, we have an agency called the State Board of Contract Appeals, dedicated to adjudicating disputes between the state and its contractors. In 2003, a bipartisan commission recommended the agency be eliminated because the few dozen cases before it each year could be handled more efficiently by the regular court system. Seven years later, it is still around and taxpayers are on the hook for $3 million over the next five years to keep it running.
In other cases, we can consolidate functions. We currently have one group of engineers, architects and planners devoted to building stadiums and arenas (Maryland Stadium Authority) and another devoted to building schools (Interagency for Public School Construction). These two entities perform many of the same tasks and could be combined into a unified state construction agency.
You can read the whole thing here.
Please let me know your thoughts. You can reach me directly at judd@juddlegum.com or 443-510-8880.
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