Two weeks before the legislature is to convene for its first regularly scheduled even-year session, research undertaken by Oregon’s largest state workers union is again pointing lawmakers toward tens of millions of dollars in savings and enhanced revenue to help balance the state budget without the need for devastating cuts to human services.
Last March, Service Employees International Union Local 503 released “Moving Oregon Forward: A Better Way — A Roadmap to a Balanced Solution to Our Budget Shortfall Drawn from the Suggestions of Frontline State Workers.”
Legislators and state officials leveraged a number of recommendations cited in the 62-page “Better Way Report” to help balance the 2011-13 budget. Others are already having an impact as the state deals with a projected shortfall in the fiscal year beginning July 1. Recently the Department of Revenue halted plans to fund an expensive new computing upgrade that Moving Oregon Forward researchers said could be undertaken at far less cost.
“The savings identified in Moving Oregon Forward 2012 provide the Legislature and Governor with smart alternatives to cuts to desperately needed programs and services,” said SEIU 503 Executive Director Heather Conroy.
The new report cites potential efficiencies in several new areas and urges legislators to press forward more aggressively and quickly than they did in the 2011 session to recoup savings cited in the initial report in time to rebalance the current budget. These are some key recommendations:
Reduce Management: Improving the worker to supervisor ratio by one in FY 2013 would generate at least $21.8 million in savings for the General Fund and $58.3 million in all funds.
Examine University Staffing & Compensation: Direct OUS to detail staffing levels and compensation patterns to allow meaningful comparison to staffing and compensation at similar institutions in comparable state systems.
Expand Usage of Oregon Prescription Drug Plan (OPDP). Reintroduce and pass SB 962, requiring all state agencies to purchase pharmaceuticals through OPDP unless they can show that alternatives will save more.
Improve Tax Collection: A new Department of Revenue director should focus on less costly approaches than the $100 million core systems upgrade and adopt immediate steps to improve current collections.
Reduce Advertising: Spending 10% less will save $2.6 million overall and $1 million in the General Fund.
Optimize Medicaid Recovery: The state can reap more funds for services by closely tracking tens of millions in third party recoveries and targeting estates.
Reconsider Tax Breaks: Freeze new corporate tax expenditures (legislators added $104 million in 2011), analyze benefits of personal expenditures, and reinstate the top tax for Oregonians who got a $134 million cut January 1.
Improve Budget Projections: Correction and other agencies that tie costs to expected caseload should regularly review actual data and rebalance budgets accordingly to avoid excessive costs.
Clamp Down Harder on Medicaid Fraud: If added staff proves worth many times its cost, as expected, the Legislature should expand this effort further to root out corruption and save money.