State workers offer their own cost-cutting ideas

– Taxpayers await response, action

Gov. Steve Beshear asked state employees for suggestions on how to cut costs. And boy did they!

Given the state’s fiscal condition, Beshear should not waste any time acting on many of these suggestions offered by public servants who must daily balance their own budgets and make tough decisions to make ends meet.

These folks often don’t have the power to execute their recommended changes to cut wasteful spending, eliminate inefficient policies and employ innovative practices. However, their managers do.

But how many of state government’s “middle managers” daily ignore many of the cost-cutting opportunities included in these recommendations? Could it be that it’s not their money they waste?

FreedomKentucky.org has a sortable database on the first 1,200 employees suggestions presented to Beshear.

Enter keyword searches for words like ”lights,” “Fletcher,” “training,” or “state vehicles” to immediately see a wealth of information on opportunities to cut costs and improve the effectiveness of hard-earned taxpayer dollars extracted annually by state government.

No longer will there be silence when big-spending politicians say: “Show us where to cut costs and make improvements.”

Their own employees have told them “how.” The only uncertainty now remains “when” Frankfort will respond, and “what” that response will be.