Good morning everyone,
Yesterday, I glanced through the first report of the Government Efficiency and Accountability Review (GEAR) Board. See story below.
It was clear that the group easily found millions of dollars in savings in areas such as information technology and scheduling school buses.
Reading between the lines, it was easy to see that the recommendations could trigger more substantial savings if structural changes were carried out.
For example, savings on non-classroom activities in education would be much larger if Delaware went to county-wide school districts while at the same time standardizing a multitude of platforms and practices.
Critics of such plans claim savings would be small This does not appear to be true, based on bits and pieces of information in the GEAR report.
Also, GEAR cannot tackle the proverbial elephant in the room, rising employee health care costs and top of the line health care benefits for state employees. Medicaid costs are also part of the picture.
Complicating the situation is the long-running tendency to improve benefits while limiting or eliminating annual pay increases.
The cost squeeze has also produced an unsustainable situation that will rear its ugly head in coming sessions of the General Assembly.
As we saw earlier this week, the scramble for funding is underway, with the announcement of a proposal to spend a reported $55 million budget for children’s programs.
Agree or disagree? Your thoughts are always welcome. Simply hit the reply button and start typing. – Doug Rainey, Chief content officer.
