March 05, 2010 05:04 PM UTC

What if the state measured the cost and return of each program?

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• by: DavidThi808

Something has hit me as I’ve looked at a number of different things the state has done. And I think one large thing we are missing is that the state does not measure the cost and result of each program. Equally critical, it does not list out projected results and then compare that to actual results as we go forward.

Let’s take a couple of examples:

1) The cost of higher ed has increased at twice the rate of inflation since 1980. Having 1 kid graduated and 1 at CSU, I don’t see any real difference from when I went. Yet the costs keep climbing. Why don’t we look at what we got in 1980 and then compare both the costs and outcomes we have today? From that determine what we think makes sense to spend on higher ed, what we think we should see from that over the next 10 years – and then check against actual results each year.

2) We should be doing the same for every program of significance (K-12, transportation, prisons, healthcare). What are we spending on, what do we expect to get from it, then compare with actual results over the next 10 years.

3) In criminal justice we should be measuring the cost of incarceration against the cost to society of the percentage who re-commit crimes when determining prison sentences. We should also be measuring the cost effectiveness of alternative approaches for classes of crimes. And we should be upfront about the cost of making the mental health issue of drug addiction a crime.

4) We should measure the cost to individuals/companies and to the state for each tax stream vs the money raised. The business property tax is universally detested because it costs businesses and local governments both a lot of money to calculate it – in some cases more than the tax amount itself. The state should be listing the cost to individuals/businesses and to the local/state revenue departments for each dollar raised via each tax mechanism.

5) We should measure the efficiency & effectiveness of each government department. When a department like OIT lays out a proposed budget and timeline for a project like CBMS, then that project should be tracked. And if it fails beyond a certain pre-set metric, then the department needs to be fixed. At present the price of failure in any department is an increased budget – that is not a route to success.

If we don’t do this then we will continue to flounder, especially when the economy sucks. Money will be poured in according to “need” with no real effort made to insure that it is being use efficiently & effectively. The Republicans will continue to scream about all the wasted money (they’re right). The Democrats will continue to scream about all the people who need our help (they’re right).

But no one will be focused on fixing a broken system. And while the private sphere continues to deliver more for less, the public sphere will continue to deliver less for more.