SAVE Commission's findings - La Follette School of Public Affairs ...

directly and through their union representatives—will
be involved in planning, implementing
and evaluating the pilot.
The pilots will be discrete operating units
that will be chartered to produce measurable
results with a given set of customers in return
for freedom from many of the rules, regulations
and burdens that are costing taxpayers billions
of dollars and restricting employees and agencies.
With outside help from experienced experts
in organizational change, the employees
and their management will set up what they
want to do, how they will do it and what they
will learn from the process. The learning experience
will be used by the agencies themselves
to do a better job, but also by the Legislature in
its complete reform of the state management
system over the next two biennia, beginning
with periodic progress reports by July 1, 1997.
This will include civil service, budget, procurement
and evaluation.
BUDGET REFORM: SPENDING FOR
RESULTS
The budget is the main decision-making
process in state government and it needs major
reform if it is to deal with the efficiency and
effectiveness needs of the next century. Ironically,
by today’s standards, the Wisconsin process
is among the best of any state government
in the nation.
The professionalism of the Legislature and
its Joint Committee on Finance, as well as the
support staff in the executive and legislative
branches, all have been commended by independent
evaluators. However, reform is needed
so the focus is on results, not spending, and on
the needs of citizens, not agencies.
The Constitution requires that state budgets
be balanced and prohibits the state from
borrowing for operations. A strong statutory
requirement will force the Legislature, in cooperation
with local and educational governments,
to adopt a process that is driven by a
strategy; that is, what you want to accomplish,
not how much you want to spend.
Budget strategies will focus on areas such
as public safety and they will define, with real
numbers, what the Legislature wants to happen.
For example: what should the crime rate
be and whose help is needed to get to that goal?
The “help” might come from police, social
workers, schools, not-for-profit organizations,
businesses and churches. Under the budget
process, state and local agencies would have to
work together, not in competition, to come up
with a strategy to produce results. The results
in Wisconsin would be benchmarked against
results elsewhere.
As the budget is implemented by state and
local governments (which get shared revenue),
the hard numbers will be produced and the
Legislature will evaluate the results, making sure
the money is being well spent, and learning
from the experience. The results of all major
strategies will be published in a series of easy
to understand, accurate performance scorecards
for taxpayers.
The new approach will carve out new roles
for standing legislative committees and legislative
oversight functions, and for the technical
staffs supporting the Legislature as well as the
Governor.
Finally, agencies and their employees will
be rewarded for saving money, and discouraged
from spending all their money before the end
of a budget year.
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM:
PERFORMANCE, NOT PROCESS
The civil service system needs top to bottom
reform. The old system was founded on
structured distrust and an Industrial Age assumption
that employees work under close
supervision, using their hands, not their heads.
The new system will be built on respect for the
employee and what she or he does with skills,
talents and capacity, both as an employee and a
member of a team.
The old system required lots of paperwork,
legions of supervisors, thousands of restricting
job titles and hours of low value or no
value paper processing. The new system requires
none of the above. The new civil service
system will be designed to give dignity to the
worker and value to the citizen. It will:
1. Focus on the mission of the organization.
The mission of the agency, unit or
facility will determine the kind of
Actions
20.1
Establish pilot projects
and a goal of a new
management system by
July 1, 1997.
20.2
Adopt a strategy-driven
budget process.
20.3
Budget for results not by
bureaus.
20.4
Reform infrastructure
budgeting, decision
making and use.
20.5
Reward employees and
agencies for saving
money.
20.6
Evaluate more reliable
long term revenue
sources.
20.7
Establish one electronic
government transaction
service.
20.8
Eliminate Constitutional
restrictions on
purchasing.
20.9
Modernize procurement
practices top to bottom.
20.10
Let purchasing agents
become helpers and
compete.
20.11
Use strategic
partnerships like
business.
20.12
Revamp simplistic
purchasing laws
covering high-tech.
Continued on next page
CITIZEN • COMMUNITY • GOVERNMENT — WISCONSIN: THE 21 ST CENTURY 53