MONTGOMERY, Ala. — With Alabama’s General Fund Budget facing an estimated $270 million shortfall, one Republican lawmaker wants to incentivize state government employees to find ways to slash spending.
Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) plans to introduce a bill next week that would give the department heads of government agencies a bonus tied to what percentage of their department’s budget they cut.
“If they cut 10 percent from the previous year, they get a 10 percent bonus on their base salary,” Moore told Yellowhammer in a phone interview Thursday evening. “We’ve got to incentivize these department heads to do what they can to help us solve this budgeting crisis and shrink the government bureaucracy.”
Moore said that he and his colleagues have noticed a trend during this session that made him realize how important it is for agencies to be pushed to trim the fat.
“Everyone knows we’ve got a budget crunch right now, and yet department head after department head comes in to talk to legislators about their budget needs and says, ‘I know things are tough, so we’ll be fine with level funding this year.’ Level funding? We need them proactively looking for ways to make cuts. The problem is, they aren’t incentivized to do that under the current system. In fact, they’re often incentivized to grow their department because the ‘success’ of government programs is often judged by how big they get. It should be the exact opposite.”
Moore said that lawmakers have to rely on executive branch agency leaders to tell them how much funding they need, because there’s no way for legislators to gain a complete understanding of each agency’s day-to-day operations. He said that makes it even more important for them to be incentivized to make their operations as lean and efficient as possible.
“Just being away from my business for two or three days during the week when the legislature is in session, I immediately see waste when I get back,” Moore explained. “And that’s at a small business. Imagine what it must be like with the number of employees some of these agencies have. I immediately make corrections when I see those opportunities in my business. I’d like to see our department heads take the same approach.”
As of Thursday, Moore said he has already rounded up more than two dozen of his colleagues to be co-sponsors, and has even garnered interest from legislators on the other side of the aisle.
“There’s no interest in raising taxes. Our constituents want us to make cuts,” Moore concluded. “My bill will be a common sense way to continue to process of streamlining and right-sizing government that we started when Republicans were first given elected to a majority in 2010.”
Like this article? Follow me on Twitter and let me know what you think.
— Cliff Sims (@Cliff_Sims) December 3, 2014
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.