Gayle Slossberg

Slossberg: Commission Approves 30 Potential Savings Proposals

Report filed ahead of deadline could save more than $450M

A legislative commission charged with finding potential avenues for savings in the state budget and streamlining state agency functions completed its work at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford this afternoon with the approval of 30 comprehensive proposals.

Cumulatively, the panel’s proposals would save an estimated $228,941,015 in Fiscal Year 2011 and between $241,145,570 and $247,658,418 for Fiscal Year 2012. The commission also approved a second list of 15 proposals with the potential to enhance agency outcomes, but not directly save the state money, as well as 15 additional areas that merit further exploration.

“The goal of this commission was to examine the fundamental services our state government provides and look for ways to build in efficiencies,” Senator Gayle Slossberg (D-Milford), Senate chair of the Government Administration and Elections Committee and co-chair of the Commission on Enhancing Agency Outcomes. “From changes in how we process our payroll and operate human resources in the agencies, to contracting and procurement reforms, to changes in how we administer Medicaid and apply for federal revenue, we have opportunities to realize considerable savings. There are many opportunities in this report to tackle our budget problems head-on.”

Continued Senator Slossberg, “This commission offers a solid package of reforms, options that don’t require cutting vital services or raising taxes. This was a bipartisan effort, and we not only met our goal, we surpassed it. I’m very proud of what this group has accomplished.”

Senator Slossberg has chaired the panel—charged with identifying $50 million in savings—since its creation in February 2009. The final report approved today was due to be submitted to the governor, the senate president pro tem and the speaker of the house on December 31.

Among the recommendations approved were to:

• Engage in more aggressive efforts to transition senior care out of nursing homes and into assisted home care
• Find savings through cooperative purchasing and reverse online auctioning
• Encourage greater generic prescription drug use, and change management of the state’s prescription drug program for low-income individuals to a third-party system
• Enhance community prevention and intervention efforts in the Department of Children and Families
• Restore the State Contracting Standards Board and other entities charged with reviewing contracts and identifying waste
• Reduce energy costs by 10 percent
• Expand tax auditing and enforcement to pursue delinquent accounts
• Consolidate back-office human resources functions in the state’s various human services agencies
• Reduce postage usage and convert business entity filing to electronic methods

For more information on the Commission on Enhancing Agency Outcomes and to read the full listing of its proposals, please visit www.cga.ct.gov/gae/CEAO.