Governor Sarah Sanders is taking steps we hope will eventually save the state money by reevaluating the size and scope of state government.
NOT BLINDLY THROWING MONEY AT STATE EMPLOYEE PAY PLAN
Under former Governor Asa Hutchinson, a plan started moving forward for a broad-based pay increase for state employees. Governor Sarah Sanders just derailed that plan, saying Arkansas taxpayers should not be saddled with the $80 million price tag for a proposal that doesn’t consider the needs in education, public safety, health care, and corrections.
Halting the $80 million plan is not the same as saving money, since it has not been spent yet, but it certainly holds down growing costs.
Governor Sanders took another needed step by directing state officials to review and rework the current structure of state employee pay. The plan needs to be overhauled from time to time to focus on the types of positions most needed by the state and to see where compensation is out of line with that provided in the private sector. The plan has not been overhauled since 2017, and that should have been done before former Governor Hutchinson proposed throwing lots more money at the existing pay plan.
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES
Earlier, Governor Sanders directed executive branch agencies to lower overall staffing levels. This in itself is not unusual. Previous governors have ordered agencies to find redundancies and reduce the number of positions by attrition or have ordered temporary hiring freezes.
What is new is that Governor Sanders is bringing focus on the fact that the number of state employees in Arkansas is high as compared to the size of our state. If the goal becomes bringing the number of employees down to be more in line to the size of our state, then the results for taxpayers are likely to be much better than previous calls for hiring freezes or hiring reductions. Concerning the number of state employees, Governor Sanders said: “Arkansas should not have more state employees per capita than all our surrounding states.”[i] That focus is good news for Arkansas taxpayers.
SIZE AND SCOPE OF STATE GOVERNMENT
The Governor went on to say, “It’s long past time to reduce the size and scope of government, identify efficiencies, and responsibly phase out the income tax.”[ii]
For too long, governors have thrown more money at problems without attempting to reallocate funds from programs where the state is overspending or not spending wisely. Making cuts in less important programs is hard, that is why few governors have tried.
Conduit for Action has long advocated for the state budget process to include a procedure to reevaluate the need for and importance of the various government programs. The legislature has yet to adopt such a process and by and large, the legislature has merely decided how much across the board increase each agency should get and then add more to some programs. If the legislature won’t incorporate the need or lack of need for each program into the budget process, then perhaps the Governor will take the lead in reevaluating programs in the Governor’s budget request. We need to quit just throwing money at agencies. We do not know what the Governor’s plans are on how to reduce the size of government, but we are encouraged that she is focused on the problem.
We encourage you to support Governor Sarah Sanders and fiscally conservative-minded legislators on reducing state government to be more in line with the size of our state.
[i] Sanders support lacking for state pay overhaul bill, Arkansas Democrat Gazette, 03/16/2023
[ii] Ibid
