CHEYENNE — There’s been talk recently among Freedom Caucus legislators about emulating the White House by authorizing a home variety of a DOGE government efficiency operation.
If the Legislature does decide to take on this task, I hope they will not try to match the reckless blitzkrieg that marks the D.C. leaders’ method to achieve government efficiency.
We would need to consider the best way to achieve government reform without destroying it.
(Personal disclosure: One of my granddaughters is an experienced MD scientist working in the research field at the National Institute of Health in D.C., a DOGE target.)
Like most states and their governors, Wyoming every decade or so has decided to conduct a study to rid agencies of waste, fraud, abuse and whatever to make them more efficient and cost-effective.
Wyoming has had a lot of studies over the years; some were good and based on common sense. Others may have been good but were simply ignored.
One of the good ones was the creation in the 1970's of the Department of Administration and Fiscal Control.
The purpose was to centralize the purchases and other business of individual agencies.
At that time agencies existed in so-called “silos” isolated from each other.
They bought all their own supplies, paper, pens copiers and the like. Each agency also had a slush fund for smaller expenses, like stamps.
The individualization of the agencies ended when DAFC took over those function through a system-wide purchasing department that got a lot better deals buying in bulk.
DAFC also took away their slush funds, created a central office for mail and took control of state vehicle use through the state motor pool.
The employees hated DAFC. Change is hard.
They also hated for the most part the1998 reorganization of state government that reduced the number of agencies from 79 to 49.
Looking back, the last efficiency study the state authorized was in 2017. It cost about $2 million for a New York-based company, Alvarez and Marsal (A and M ), to find better ways for the state to operate and save money.
Matt Mead was governor at the time. When he left office he told the Legislature he hoped the efficiency study work would continue.
The Legislature in the 2018 budget session adopted House Bill 120 that allocated money for the complete study.
I think the current governor, Mark Gordon, was amenable to the study, but it apparently never caught on with the Legislature.
And then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the efficiency study dropped on the state’s priority list.
The consultants also had their critics.
The A and M final report said the state would have to invest $10 million to $45 million to access the savings of $200 million in a future two-year budget.
The spending would be on things like hiring more auditors.
The closest analogy I could think of was the consultants presented the state with a nice car and the keys, but did not explain how to drive it.
The list of recommendations is long and so is the report.
Gail Symons, a Gordon-appointed member of the Efficiency Study Commission, said there were parts of that report that remain valuable.
One was the recommendation of establishing a grants program in the governor’s office.
This service would provide people with expertise in writing grant requests to smaller towns that lack access to people with that sort of writing skill.
Another was a regional sharing of services between school districts. And yet another was checking the accuracy of funds received from the federal government.
Symons noted that while Wyoming residents express resentment of the federal government, the state is a big benefactor of federal money. This program would insure the state is getting its fair share.
This entire A and M endeavor depended on the Legislature having a commitment to the recommendations, the ability to do critical thinking and the patience to take the long view.
Support was fragile with the old Legislature. Today the Freedom Caucus with its budget-cutting agenda, has more power.
Symons said there is no point in even bringing up the efficiency study for discussion with the new Legislature.
“It’s not going to happen,” she said last week in a telephone interview.
Was it worth $2 million? Maybe.
The state still has the data, the blueprint and recommendations which were promised in the A and M contract.
The final A and M report can be reviewed at;
https://wyoleg.gov/InterimCommittee/2019/SGE-2019
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Contact Joan Barron at 307-632-2534 or jmbarron@bresnan.net
