When everyone is in charge, no one is in charge
When we're talking about government restructuring and reforming the Budget and Control Board, in a lot of cases what we're talking about is the need for more accountability. The reason why that's important is because when everyone is in charge, no one is in charge, and when no one is held accountable for the spending decisions made every day in state government, it's often the taxpayers that suffer.
A fairly obscene example of this is highlighted in the article below. In this case, somewhere between $2 million and $4 million went out of our pockets each year as taxpayers, and into the pockets of a politically connected insurance firm. In this case, the contract was not competitively bid, just given to them year after year for 20 years!
Restructuring Vital to South Carolina's Future Well Being
South Carolina is the only state in the entire country with a Budget and Control Board. While every other state puts the governor in charge of their administrative agency, ours is controlled by five people, two of whom are legislators. The result is that our branches of government are neither separate nor equal.
This flawed structure costs us all. It is a reason we get less from our government while spending 130% of the national average for it. It is a reason that the G.E.A.R. commission recently made recommendations that could save the state $500 million over the next few years by doing things differently at this agency.
One discovery by the commission was that our state's $21 million annual property reinsurance policy has been with the same broker for 25 years. The firm which was owned by a former legislator hadn’t even had to competitively bid for the state's business since 1988.
According to a national budgeting association, our state increased government spending by 25% over the past two years. This was the 3rd highest spending increase in the country and double the national average.
The budget for the current year increased spending by over another one billion dollars. That number includes tens of millions for local pork projects and likely would have included an additional $950,000 appropriated by the Senate for a Green Bean Museum if not for an education effort from our group.
These massive spending increases are especially troublesome given our growing $20 billion debt for outstanding promises made to our state's retirees that haven't been funded.
Tax Reform
A comprehensive look at how we pay for education and other government services in South Carolina is long overdue. In fact, property tax reform should never have happened last year without it. But state lawmakers in an election year were hellbent to chalk up property tax relief, so we have reached this pass. We are now trying to "reform" the reform.(read full article)
Getting aggressive on reform
Time is beginning to run out if Gov. Mark Sanford is to leave office after 2010 with his major goals accomplished. The most obvious roadblock is the General Assembly. That's why there is a needed intensification of efforts by Sanford supporters through a variety of citizens groups to either force change at the ballot box or through the courts. (Read full article)
