Lt. Governor Discusses Operating Under Previous Administration's Budget

When I took office in 2011, Alabama was financially out of shape. The country was slowly coming out of a recession; State unemployment was at 10 percent and rising; and revenues were down. Our financial cupboards were bare. Every rainy day fund was dry; all economic incentive money had been exhausted; and federal stimulus money that had propped up our budgets was gone. As a state, we were essentially broke. With new leadership at the helm, the State was at a pivotal moment. We faced a great challenge and needed a solution. But we didn’t look to the federal government to solve our problems, as we shouldn’t. And we didn’t consider putting the burden on citizens by raising taxes unlike in 2003, when massive tax increases were proposed to close a similar money gap. The new leadership chose a different path. We focused on trimming the fat, streamlining state government, and growing the economy.

To achieve this, we had to make tough choices. The Commission on Improving State Government, which I chaired, laid the foundation to make sustainable changes. We consolidated or merged government functions where we found redundancies. We abolished DROP. We right-sized the government workforce and budgeted to spend only what was coming in, a stark contrast to the runaway spending we see in Washington D.C. State departments and agencies were asked to do the same and I led by example.

My commitment to streamlining state government is reflected in the way I manage my office. Guided by the same principles I applied as State Treasurer when I saved taxpayers $5 million, I have consistently operated the Office of Lieutenant Governor well under the budget of my predecessor. Looking back to 2008, the previous administration spent $818,000. My office completed fiscal year 2013 with expenditures of $560,000 -- 32 percent less than my predecessor and significantly less than most state offices. The efficiencies have not come at a cost to citizens. My office executes its duties to their full extent and serves constituents. We are actually doing more with much less, and the record reflects it.

As a result of strong fiscally conservative leadership, we found more than $1 billion in savings annually, shrunk the size of government, and have experienced the highest job growth in five years.

We’re certainly headed in the right direction, but the budgets aren’t getting any easier to balance. You can already read news reports about the projected shortfall the Legislature faces for the next fiscal year. But we’re making the tough choices now so our children and grandchildren don’t have to pay later. I am committed to continuing these practices and am optimistic that we will continue to meet future financial challenges in the same manner. Our best days are ahead of us.

 

By Lt. Governor Kay Ivey