Cost-cutting for Idaho government
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Dec 1, 2009 Posted by Judy Ferro
Gov. Otter has started a website to take citizen comments: http://efficiency.idaho.gov/
BY DAN POPKEY (ID Statesman, Nov. 30)
Gov. Butch Otter's summons for ideas to streamline government has produced 217 online submissions since his efficiency.idaho.gov Web site went live Nov. 13. Among them are traditional ideas, including spending and tax cuts, tax increases, prison reform and school consolidation.
Some of the more novel ideas:
CLOSE DEATH ROW
Richard Hensley of Lewiston calls for commuting sentences to life without parole to save on legal costs. Janice Fenton of Fruitland has a different take: "Why don't we do what a jury of their peers said to do? Execute them." Fenton also proposes selling the state's prisons and shipping "all of the prisoners to the closed military bases."
BOOST SEAT BELT FINES
Raise them to $75, says R. Hill of Boise. Cite texting and talking drivers for inattentiveness. "How many drivers could be cited in a day?" asks Richard Schreiber of Meridian. "A ton!!"
LEGALIZE MARIJUANA
James Tucker of Boise proposes that it be sold at state-owned liquor stores. Tucker estimates $5 million in tax revenue from 158,000 Idaho pot smokers and $1.4 million in annual savings from the release of prisoners.
STOP SUBSIDIZING ATHLETICS
End taxpayer support for athletics in schools, offers Stuart Sutherland of Lewiston and Bryan Carter of Meridian. Says Carter: Sell fields and gyms and reinvest the cash in academics.
CUT UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS
Hire one regent to oversee higher education, replacing the system of presidents and attendant underlings, offers Dave Peterson of Caldwell.
CHILL OUT
Lower winter thermostats in all public buildings to 67 degrees during the day and 55 at night. "Have most-beautiful or interesting sweater contests," says Mary Cecilia Smith of Boise.
EARLY GRADUATION
Allow students to finish high school early by showing their proficiency in "challenge exams," says Rep. Steven Thayn, R-Emmett.
YEAR-ROUND SCHOOLS
Put all schools on a 12-month schedule, says Jerry Kasten of Boise, "to better maximize the dollars that we are spending on education."
CUT RETIREMENT PAY
Take a cue from the private sector and suspend employer contributions to the state retirement system for a year, says Jason McKinley of Lewiston.
CUT HEALTH BENEFITS
Eliminate them for the state's 105 part-time legislators and the lieutenant governor, just as benefits have been cut for other part-timers. "What's good for the goose is good for the gander," writes Vivian Klein of Boise.
ALLOW JOB SHARING
And do so without health care benefits, says Rebecca S., a new mother who "would love the opportunity to work part-time."
IMPOSE WATER FEES
Charge farmers and ranchers annually to exercise their state water rights, suggests Larry Zuckerman of Salmon.
END DAIRY CENTER
Kill state funding for the Magic Valley research center, say Ralph and Judy Friedemann of Jerome and Kim Helsley of Buhl.