Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Department of Management Director Responds To Iowa State Auditor Dave Vaudt
(Des Moines) – Below is a response from Department of Management Director Charlie Krogmeier to Iowa State Auditor Dave Vaudt’s press conference earlier today:
STATEMENT FROM DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR CHARLES J. KROGMEIER:
Governor Culver and his Transition Team met with Auditor Vaudt late last year about the state budget and appreciated his thoughtful input. Since his Budget Address in January, Governor Culver has demonstrated his desire to be fiscally conservative and adhere to sound budgeting principles. Among the steps that Governor Culver has taken are: 1) Fully funding the state reserve funds – now at the highest levels in the state’s history; 2) Fully funding the salary adjustment for state employees; 3) Starting the process of repaying the Property Tax Credit Fund from the FY 08 General Fund budget; and 4) Recently directing state departments and agencies to use a status-quo budget target for their FY 09 budget requests.
By refusing to acknowledge that Governor Culver has undertaken these good-budgeting practices that were discussed during the Governor’s transition, Mr. Vaudt seems to be more focused on playing partisan politics than providing an honest assessment of the final budget.
The fact is the final budget is balanced and fiscally sound. The state’s finances are in their best shape in nearly a decade. There is now almost $600 million in our reserves – more funding in our reserves than at anytime in the history of our state.
In addition, Mr. Vaudt continues to mix apples and oranges in preparing a misleading analysis of the FY 08 budget. For example, in Chart 8 of his analysis, he does not include the revenues that go with the expenditures that he decides to add to the General Fund. It appears Mr. Vaudt is intentionally inflating numbers to justify his own conclusions and being selective in what to compare in devising his criticisms of the budget.
By criticizing future commitments for allowable school-aid growth, increasing teacher salaries, expanding pre-school education, creating the Iowa Power Fund, and funding the salary adjustment for state employees, Mr. Vaudt once again does not say what he would cut. Does Mr. Vaudt not believe in paying teachers what they deserve? Does he not believe in making Iowa more energy efficient? Does he not want to allow Iowa kids across the entire state to have access to a quality pre-school education? It’s easy to criticize, but which of these critically important initiatives does he want to cut? He is getting a free ride by having no responsibility to accomplish these important objectives.