How to trim
bloated state government payroll
California
faces a $20 billion budget deficit, the result of politicians’ erroneous
financial assumptions, a housing market downturn with reduced property taxes,
and a possible recession brought on by the federal government’s inflationary
monetary policy.
California’s
government itself is a part of the deficit problem. It’s a huge behemoth with
500 agencies, departments, and divisions in eight broad categories. There are
345,000 state employees averaging $85,000 annually in pay and benefits, which
costs taxpayers $29 billion alone. In comparison, private industry per capita
pay and benefits average $45,000.
One
method to cut the state deficit would require California state employees’ pay
and benefits to be scaled to meet an average equal to private industry’s pay
and benefits. This $40,000 cut per state employee would reduce the budget
deficit by $13.8 billion in one short stroke.
There are
other ways to trim a bloated, deficit-ridden state government budget.
One would
be to make many agencies and commissions self-supporting through user fees;
another would be to eliminate useless agencies and commissions altogether.
Still another approach is to compare the services an agency or commission
provides and determine whether the same service is being offered by a private
company. The agency or commission would then be required to make a competitive
bid for the service against a free-market privately-owned business. To be
competitive, the playing field would need to be leveled by repealing all
prevailing wage legislation as well as public servant union pay scales. If the
private free market company offers a better competitive deal, the service gets
outsourced.
If it is
determined that an agency, a commission, or a council was created for the
purpose of satisfying political campaign contributors and had no real reason
for existence, it should be eliminated.
Let’s
look at a few agencies, commissions, and councils that could be eliminated,
supported through user fees, or outsourced.
The
California Arts Council exists to encourage artistic awareness and expression
among Californians. Since our state has 1,700 art galleries and 170 art
museums, not to mention businesses supporting the arts through exhibits and
local communities supporting art fairs, we seem to have enough art awareness.
So let’s eliminate this $5 million California Arts Council boondoggle.
The
Department of Consumer Affairs establishes licensing standards for some 225
professions, from accountants to veterinarians. With a $251 million budget and
2.4 million professionals covered, charging an annual licensing fee of $105 per
professional to maintain this licensing would save the taxpayers $251 million.
The Adult
Operations program for the Department of Corrections consists of 33 operating
correctional institutions overseeing 170,000 prisoners and a $5.5 billion
budget. With federal crackdowns on illegal-immigrant farm labor, California
should literally “farm out” prison labor. Offering some 125,000 nonviolent
prisoners at a competitive pay at $10 an hour would generate $2.5 billion,
cutting the taxpayers’ burden in half. Hard-core prisoners could farm specialty
herbs and spices inside prisons for sale to high-end markets and restaurants,
further cutting budget needs.
The
Department of Parks and Recreation oversees 85 state parks and 200 campsites,
beaches, and hiking trails. The 2008-09 budget was going to be cut, with 48
state parks closed. These closures have been forestalled in the governor’s
newly proposed $569 million parks budget. It’s time to take some radical
measures to save the parks. California should get out of the parks business. It
should sell the state parks, campsites, hiking trails, and beaches to private
businesses or individuals to hold them in trust for the benefit of the public.
This way, businesses and individuals could jump on the “Green Wagon” and save
California parks.
Each
business that adopts a state park would receive tax deductions equal to the
cost of maintenance, upkeep, repair, and park staffing. Businesses could join
together to adopt parks, hiking trails, campsites, or state beaches and split
the tax-deductible costs. Private individuals could adopt state park areas
though a nonprofit tax-deductible contribution corporation. In this way, the
$569 million Parks and Recreation budget could be cut and still allow
Californians to have outdoor recreation. Otherwise, we should do the
politically incorrect thing and charge an entrance fee of $7 each to the
estimated 80 million yearly parks visitors to cover the budget.
The
examples I’ve cited to cut the budget deficit would save $18 billion. If the
budgets of each agency, commission, council, or department were to be looked at
in terms of user fees, outsourcing, or outright elimination, the savings could
easily total another $18 billion.