Utah government and roach motels

Have you ever seen an advertisement for a roach motel? It says something like, "Roaches check in, but they never check out." Well, it seems government agencies are no different.

Roach motels are small boxes with openings that allow roaches to go in, get stuck and never get out. Washington D.C. abounds with roaches and government agencies. While working there, I had to live with both of them. Just like roaches check in, but never get out, government agencies have money that goes in, but never gets out. Utah is a little different; we may not have as many roaches, though we have lots of government agencies where the money goes in, but never gets out.

Utah lawmakers allocate money to agencies to operate programs intended to solve particular problems — i.e., find jobs for the unemployed, help kids graduate from school, lower morbidity rates, or lower crime rates; yet what do we get? "We need more money to do our jobs," is the cry from agency heads. Well, what happened to the money they got? Don't know. Just like the roach motel. Roaches check in, but they never get out.

It's like a conspiracy going on against taxpayers. Lawmakers give away our money to bureaucrats to do good for us taxpayers, yet never bother to see if the money goes for the intended purposes except when there is public outcry about abuses. Talk about accountability. Then the public rallies to show outrage, and lawmakers go on to their next pet project.

Agency heads take the money to carry out the legislative intent; however, after they get through hiring motel staff and writing volumes of regulations they find important to administer programs, any relationship between what legislators intended for the program and what they come up with is purely coincidental. They end up with policy manuals used by agencies to make sure they "do things right," not "do what is right."

Compounding the roach check-in conspiracy is that elected officials responsible for the administration of our government seem unable to make sure the agencies that get the money can show results. Does the money check out? Legislative audits are used by lawmakers to give the appearance they are good stewards, yet the public seldom sees what was wrong and what got fixed.

Elected executive officers responsible often seem content to get money for programs, such as for education, probation/parole or sex therapy for prisoners, yet seldom bother to find out the results of the program, at what cost or if they are even needed.