In order to deal with another year and another substantial deficit, as Governor I would ask legislative leaders to meet with the current administration, me, and the staff I would be appointing to budget writing assignments. It will take all the knowledge we have to develop a budget for the upcoming year.
For several years I have been focusing on the area of corrections for savings. We currently spend almost $140 million a year on this part of the budget. We know that we incarcerate a high percentage of non-violent offenders. Our goal needs to be to help Vermonters with substance abuse deal with their issues and become productive members of society.
This will take years to accomplish. For example; we currently have budgeted for 700 out of state prisoners. Each one costs us $23,000 a year. If we were to bring home all 700 of those prisoners, we would save $16 million. That is a great deal of money, but what would we do with all those prisoners? It will take years and a big investment to develop the programs we need to rehabilitate these Vermonters and to find housing and jobs for them so they do not return to a life of crime. But at least we are beginning to make these changes.
I would ask that each program in government meet with the advocates for their programs and people who use the services that the programs provide and agree upon a set of outcomes for those programs. Then the same group would decide how they would measure the outcomes. This process has the effect of having all of the people involved in programs, both providers and consumers, set the priorities for the programs and how to measure those outcomes.
The next step would be to go through each of the programs the state provides and see if the programs address the outcomes that have been agreed upon. If they don’t, then why should we continue to do those programs? One of the issues for government is that many programs are started but few are eliminated. Now is the time to stop programs that do not meet the goals we chose.
This process does not have to be overly time consuming and because it is an inclusive effort, it can be a very positive process. In these difficult times, it is much better to find the positive outcomes we all want and work together towards supporting those programs, than arguing about reductions. This means that there may well be programs that will be terminated, but those dollars can be saved or be redirected to services that address outcomes that can be measured. This is all a necessary part of right-sizing Vermont government.
I do not believe it is right to ask Vermonters to pay more taxes until government as a whole goes through the above process. Our state revenues are at about the same level that they were in 2005. We must get our spending back to those levels.
"For example; we currently have budgeted for 700 out of state prisoners. Each one costs us $23,000 a year. If we were to bring home all 700 of those prisoners, we would save $16 million."
ReplyDeleteWe pay approximately $45,000 annually to incarcerate a person in Vermont. Considering only economics, when long term incarceration is necessary, using a private correctional facility out of state is the less expensive alternative.
If you're suggesting we should incarcerate fewer people, how would you change the law and the court system to accomplish it?
I agree wholeheartedly that "we must get our spending back to those (2005)levels." We should not even consider raising more revenues from an unhealthy economy. Government simply cannot afford the dependency culture created in the past several years. What must change is peoples' expectations and the political ideology that encourages people to become dependent on government. We simply can't afford it!