By Sam Kephart
America is facing another major financial crisis: Most states and many cities
have high fixed costs, negative revenue growth, and are headed for broke.
South Dakota’s budget shortfall, while smaller in scale, is no less threatening.
Notwithstanding recent campaign blather that there would be “no new taxes”, some in our state House are surreptitiously plotting a “temporary” 1 percent sales tax hike for three years to help balance the budget shortfall.
These tax hike proponents, when asked privately about its necessity, avoid direct eye contact, shift their feet, wring their hands, and then say something to the effect “Look, we’ve just about cut everything we can… we’re down to the bone. It’s the only thing left to do.”
What a crock.
Our elected leaders in Pierre seem incapable of serious cost-cutting when it comes to state employees, the Board of Regents, many long-standing exclusive vendors, no-bid contractors, and various social service providers.
Generous political donations and lobbyists have turned their annual money needs into sacred cows we can no longer afford.
Here are three concrete ideas for saving money and cutting the state budget that I’d like to see implemented by Pierre before we, as taxpayers, have a “temporary” 1 percent sales tax increase shoved down our throats.
1. Moving forward, change the South Dakota Retirement System from a defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan, which is the norm today. This eliminates taxpayer guaranteed rates of return and the under-funded costs of employees who retire and then go back to work for government.
Defined benefit plans are a surefire recipe for financial disaster; state and local budgets are being ravaged by unrealistic and unaffordable pension payouts and soft re-hiring rules that were created in fatter days.
2. Institute a ‘Furlough Fridays’ program for state employees, who’d get every other Friday off without pay.
They’d give up about 5 percent of their wages, however, they’d gain a reliable stream of scheduled 3 day week-ends for travel, education, or family time. South Dakota would save about 7 percent on payroll costs without having to fire or layoff anyone.
During the Rounds Administration, we added roughly 1,600 full time equivalent state employees.
3. Put all of South Dakota’s purchasing requirements (fuel, furniture, hard goods, social services, etc.) online using a reverse Dutch auction eBay-type system.
The purchase prices are bid down by interested vendors and everybody, including taxpayers, gets to watch the process, see the winning bid, and know the final price paid. Implemented with one of several affordable and commercially available software solutions, this would be a home run for financial transparency. This auction system could easily include all city and county spending.
Our legislative leaders should craft out-of-the box expense cutting ideas rather than generate out-of-pocket “temporary” tax increases.
Most of us have had to seriously cut back to make do. Why shouldn’t state employees, state vendors, and state contractors seriously share our economic reality?
Why are they untouchable while we pay more? Passing a sales tax increase to make up for lost revenue is a lazy way to take the easy way out.
EDITORS NOTE: This article originally appeared in the Rapid City Journal on1/1/2011.
I think we should reduce the number of politicians by exactly one half. With the Internet and other forms of communication we simply no longer need the sheer volume of bodies performing our political functions for us. The savings realized by cutting them in half would go a long way towards balancing the state, local and national budgets.
Politicians are always proposing ways to save money, cut budgets, lay off workers, reduce employee benefits and other self-serving means. Funny how they never suggest there are too many of them in office, and our government could function quite efficiently if we eliminated half of them.
This post is a fine example of the partisan politcial rhetoric we’re forced to endure, while our politicians continue to draw salaries and benefits for doing next to nothing, villify their political opponents, produce virtually no work product, and rarely do anything to actually improve our quality of life in general.
What have you done with the Independent who calls himself a mainstreamer? You certainly have run amok of the some little things like the US Constitution. You had better get busy writing the amendments to the Constitution and all the state constitutions as well……..a daunting task. But I’m sure that as soon as your words hit the airwaves that millions will bow to your great intellect and immediately implement your plan. I especially like your class-envy crap. By the way, don’t feel that you are forced to endure the political rhetoric, you can always relocate to say……..Cuba where you wont hear much partisan rhetoric.
The fundemantalist movement should relocate to the Middle East. That’s where you’ll get a taste of what happens when your aspirations come to fruition, and state sponsored religion is combined with law and extremists control government.
Why would Christians relocate? This is a predominately Christian nation where we are free to worship God openly, as you are.
I was offering you a reflection of your comments to me about relocating to Cuba.
Most clever of you…….I’m sure you enjoy your reflections.