Legislature skeptical it needs budget help

Like Kirstie Alley helping Angelina Jolie with weight loss or Fat Joe giving 50 Cent workout advice, Utah's legislative leaders were presented with a way to improve their budgeting methods by officials from two states whose budgeting methods consistently rate lower in national surveys than perennially high-ranking Utah.

The method, called "performance budgeting," attempts to implement measures into the budget that measure quantifiable results within government. The central principle, said Eldon Mulder, a former budget co-chairman for the Alaska Legislature, is to ensure that the money spent by state government is being utilized as well as possible.

"You are the broker, they (taxpayers) are the investor," Mulder told the Executive Appropriations Committee during a presentation this past week. "They want to know what result they are getting for their investment."

While the legislative leaders who sit on the committee were receptive to the concepts of the program, not all of them were ready to start implementing it tomorrow. Senate President John Valentine said that the state already employs some of the key components — such as mission statements from departments — and while they could focus on results better, he did not necessarily see a problem in desperate need of repair.

Another problem for Valentine was the fact that in ratings of state government performance done by media outlets such as Governing Magazine and U.S. Today, Utah has scored an "A" for its financial and budgeting performance and the state also holds a AAA bond rating, which only a small number of states have earned. On the other hand, Alaska and New Mexico — the state another of the presenters worked for — both received "C+" ratings.

"We are doing some of the things better than the states giving the presentations, but we could do better," Valentine said. "To the extent that (the presentation) raised our awareness, that was good, but as far as teaching us something we should be doing, it seemed that they were telling us things we already know."

Sen. Karen Hale, D-Salt Lake, the Senate Democrats' budget manager, said that the program could be beneficial if it made department heads and legislators look even closer at how the money is being spent. The key is making sure that the appropriate goals are set, and realistic measurements are established.

"It makes so much sense for legislators who appropriate money, and agencies who spend that money," she said. "It could bring everyone to another level."

In fact, most legislators who felt like they were hearing common-sense suggestions in a new way — like a fad diet that preaches basic nutritional principles in a different way — still agreed that it didn't hurt to be reminded. Even if Utah is doing well, there can always be ways to improve, especially in government.

"We may be the cream of the crap, but we still have a lot of work to do," Rep. Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara, said.

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E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com