by Bruce Lisman Recently, I pointed to a few examples of how our government has failed us – the large budget deficit and the failed rollout of Vermont Health Connect are headliners. But, so is the stubborn insistence by the Governor and many legislators that the education system and its ruinous funding system work for Vermonters. It doesn’t.
Even the proposed solutions to the budget deficit – a relentless search for increased fees, taxes and a new payroll tax suggest our Governor has learned little from four years of budget mismanagement. Add to that, the newly proposed education reforms that would do little to solve our funding problems while advocating for forced consolidation of school districts which is unsupported by available research.
Other failures abound too – an unwillingness to focus on affordability, the state of our economy, the underwhelming management and leadership of our states employees, dysfunction within AHS and it's DCF, an inability to move the needle on poverty and food vulnerability and the failed road to a single-payer system that has consumed scarce resources even as the real growth in health care costs declined to under 2%.
There's a cost to failure. The people of Vermont will; fund the deficit, pay for the health care reform experiment, and continue to pay mounting property taxes. Financial resources that might be dedicated to important social services have been wasted. The VT Food Bank and other organizations are struggling to provide services to those in need. And our belief in the reliability, competence, and credibility of our government has been undermined – which is an incalculable cost of failure.
It's easy for politicians to blame us. After all, we've been apathetic about voting, we can be unaware of important issues, some of us aren't brave enough to speak out publicly, and many ask more of our government than we ask of ourselves. We could have done better and so could they.
The State of Vermont is a very large enterprise, fiscally and by measure of the number of employees it employs, and it should be managed as such. We are well beyond quick fixes. Changing the direction of our state will not happen overnight.
So, what does government success look like? To me, it's a budget that is managed within the context of our state’s economic growth and that of the country with enough foresight not to expand programs with one-time monies; it's having very competent managers who will execute on a clear set of strategic priorities that provide a cogent vision for the future; it's having a culture of performance and of continuous self-improvement; a reinvigorated state employee workforce; program logic; a reintroduction of a structured process for organizational renewal; and a strategic budget that tells Vermonters the cost of those priorities. Most importantly, it's a government that executes on the promises it's made to the people of Vermont.
Now, let me provide some specifics.
1. Budget Management – the current deficit is too large and its solutions too damaging to solve in one year what took in excess of four years to create. It may take three to five years to resolve. I would propose limiting spending growth to no more than 1.5% in the expectation that 3% economic growth will allow us to reduce the deficit. I also believe that the budget story must be told differently. For example, despite the headlines, the Governor’s proposed budget recommends a 5.6% increase in spending of state funds FY’2016, hardly a budget of austerity. Moreover, while important social services are being cut, there are other budget items that increase by significant margins, including plugging budget holes in Vermont Health Connect such as the “cost shift” and further expansions of global commitment funded programs.
As was true for the past four budget years, this one is absent context too. In the run up to this budget, economic growth has been anemic and austerity has been the rule.
I can't predict the future but I believe that a budget that doesn't put people at risk and carries a highly predictive value is a reasonable approach. Today that might mean a 3% normalized rate of growth, but tomorrow it might be 5%.
2. Performance Matters – competent managers make a difference. Instead of hiring the best people we know, government leaders should hire the best people for the job. And, in the process of finding these terrifically qualified people, we will come to understand what works best beyond our borders with what could work best here.
Holding people accountable is the first step toward building a government that can deliver. The burden of expectations can be heavy, but having clear goals and clear performance standards will set the stage for a competent and gifted managerial group within our state government.
3. Outcomes vs Investments – the best institutions in the world are those who are honest about their own performance and are in a state of continuous improvement. Vermont doesn’t do this, but we can. This Administration has begun to lay out programmatic performance standards, and the legislature has spent time examining 'results-based analysis' which is another way of measuring performance. I support those efforts and have long advocated for them.
However, the current effort is flawed. First, neither the Governor nor the Legislature's leadership has made it a visible part of their management philosophy. Without their powerful support, implementing it will prove to be no match against the very real and normal resistance to doing the business of researching, decision-making, and executing policy differently.
Performance measurement requires data – about what is to be accomplished, the benefits of success, the target of that success, and of course tracking its progress. What we know is that every program in government is well intentioned. But there isn't a systematic approach to measuring results and comparing the benefits with the costs or expectations. Make no mistake – managing to a goal is hard work, and even impossible without data. A systematic gathering of usable information is essential to measure performance.
4. Address Low State Employee Morale – most of our state employees go to work to make a difference, they want to work. Their work provides them with a level of significance. Most people want to work. Studies show employees want to be motivated and find a sense of accomplishment in what they do. Our state's workforce needs to be re-engaged in the noble challenge of making Vermont a better place to live and work. Some have become disconnected from their managers who are supposed to lead them. The inconsistent quality of management and lack of connection to the very real cause of what our government should stand for are the most rudimentary flaws. Re-engagement of the State workforce is fixable and must be in order for our government to succeed.
5. Enhance Program Logic – there are a myriad of similarly targeted programs that I bet if mapped would look like spaghetti. For example, workforce development efforts are spread across agencies and departments in a bewildering fashion. We live in a small state with limited resources program logic must be implemented. Programs with a generally common purpose need to be catalogued, tested against purpose, integrated if possible, and then measured for performance. Regardless of where a particular program is housed, it should be managed as part of a suite of offerings to Vermonters, the ultimate consumer.
6. Reintroduce ‘Challenges for Change’ – we can call it something else – but the fact is the tiger teams and resulting ‘Challenges for Change’ recommendations were a hopeful model that promised program efficiencies and reductions of duplicate services and waste. The legislature and Governor Douglas created them in a bi-partisan fashion, but they fell prey to suspicion and hostility by those who were to be 'improved'. It isn't easy to overcome such suspicion; the status quo generally has the upper hand, especially if leadership isn't fully engaged and supportive. This government needs leaders that support ongoing efforts to 'enforce' efficiencies. The State Auditor’s role is to function in this way, but on a small scale with limited resources. We should change that and begin a long term effort of independent views of how our government works, including clear protections for whistleblowers.
7. Cogent Clear Strategic Plan – a strategic plan need not be a long or elaborate document, but it does have to be truthful about goals, even aspirational goals. It needs to have a way of measuring progress and it needs to have a companion strategic budget that would explain how those goals are be funded and which areas are to become priorities. This Governor has many priorities. It's hard to determine which might be in the top 3 or 4. For example, Lake Champlain clean-up is now one because the EPA sent a directive. Single-payer had been, now it’s curing the Medicaid cost-shift. Health care has been a centerpiece for administrations since Snelling II and is likely to remain so for coming administrations.
Economic renewal should be the preeminent priority. I’ve offered specifics about who we might start to re-energize our economy and look forward to working with my colleagues on the Economic Development Committee established by the Speaker. Vermont must establish a plan, steps to achieve goals, a cost ascribed to it, and a way to measure results. One important outcome of this approach is to better ensure the predictability of government policies and actions. It’s good for everyone.
Bruce Lisman is a resident of Shelburne. He is optimistic about a vibrant and prosperous economy. Bruce is a staunch supporter of many Vermont institutions, a long-time environmentalist and has been recognized for his “long-time devotion to education and service to Vermont”. Lisman moved through the ranks to become Co-Head of Global Equities at Bear Stearns Companies. He has a broad view into multiple industries from shareholder perspective, due to a career overseeing research and analysis of a host of sectors during broad economic swings and sweeping global changes.