Governor Mitt Romney’s administration wants to reform the way government in Massachusetts works, using more business techniques instead of simply making cost-saving changes for the short term, Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey said last night in Boston University’s School of Management.
In front of a group of approximately 50 alumni and faculty at the event, which was sponsored by the Executive MBA Alumni Lectureship, Healey spoke about the business aspects of government under the Romney administration, focusing on his recent budget proposal.
Healey described the Romney administration’s planned commitment to applying business practices to government to make up a deficit in the projected $3.2 billion budget gap for 2004.
‘For too long, public leaders have been unfamiliar with the principles of business, and have not wanted to apply them to government,’ Healey said.
According to Healey, many of the administration’s proposed changes are based on a new emphasis on efficiency and reform in the public sector.
‘Our budget is focused on reforming government in a way that we close that [budget] gap permanently,’ Healey said.
Healey expressed a desire to work toward more than simply righting the economy. She said the administration wants to make permanent changes to make government efficient and management focused.
‘We will take the spirit of reform and not just make budget cuts, but make government more business-like,’ Healey said.
Several of the administration’s goals aim toward that end, Healey said, including its proposed consolidation of several state public services departments.
Healey questioned the necessity of having two highway departments, as Massachusetts currently does. She suggested a merger between the existing Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and Massachusetts Highway Department, which she said would save $27 to $30 million a year.
She said the administration will also assess how much surplus land the state owns, and put half of the value of that land into state pension funds.
‘We need to think creatively and use all of our assets, not just cash,’ Healey said.
Another program at which the administration will look more closely is Payment In Lieu Of Taxes, or PILOT, in which cities with a large number of state-owned buildings will be reimbursed for the cost of not receiving property taxes on the state land, Healey said. Increased use of the measure will save taxpayers money in towns across Massachusetts.
The administration’s planned approach to funding schools will also increase government efficiency, Healey said. The state’s current system of school funding is blind to fluctuations in districts’ student attendance, she said, and administration officials will look at incorporating that into the state’s school-funding formula.
‘We will focus on the needs of the poorest communities,’ Healey said. ‘We have a financial obligation to public education.’
Ruth Bramson, the states’ Chief Human Resources Officer and Undersecretary of Administration and Finance, also spoke about her transition from the private to public sector. She said she has been working to change government management of what are now ‘wasteful, inefficient systems.’
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