Friday, April 11, 2008

"Oh, Really, Jim?": Republicans

This might be interesting.

A legislative committee today ordered auditors to review claims by top state officials that their consolidation of procurement and human resources functions saved money, and to also review why a target of selling $36 million worth of state buildings was missed.

On a 9-1 vote, the Joint Legislative Audito Commitee ordered the review by the Legislative Audit Bureau. The audit will be done of parts of the money-saving program nicknamed "ACE" -- for Accountability, Consolidation and Efficiency -- that Gov. Jim Doyle announced early in 2005.

...Schooff told the committee that combining the purchasing functions of state agencies -- which he said reduced the number of procurement officers from 94 to 70 -- and merging human relations functions of smaller agencies saved a total of $8 million in the 2005-'07 budget.

Separate from that $8-million savings, state agencies also returned $35.5 million in unspent tax funds to the treasury on June 30, 2007, Schooff added.

I wouldn't be surprised if the audit essentially declares that Doyle's claims are correct (with the obvious exception of the DOA HQ-building sale.)

On the other hand, there's a LONG way to go. We're short $600++ million, remember?

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