State wastes millions, costs mounting
10 p.m. Thursday, January 31, 2008
The state takes nearly $6 billion of your money every year. That’s nearly $2,000 for every Kansan. But millions of dollars are going to waste, thanks to the operation of an inefficient government.
The state wasted $28 million on government cars that weren’t needed, $26,000 a year on gold-embossed letterhead, and $60,000 on unneeded budget books and paper phone books.
We questioned Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson, D-Kansas, about all the wasteful spending.
“I think it is embarrassing that you see state government that’s being run inefficiently,” he said. “Everybody talks about cutting waste; it’s a tough thing to do.”
The state wasted thousands of dollars by keeping the lights on in the Docking State Office Building, 915 SW Harrison, around-the-clock.
The state wasted $102,000 a year on over-priced office supplies. We found out the state was using your tax dollars to pay 70 percent more for paper clips than was necessary.
State leaders have fessed up, fixed these problems and now say they’re doing more to protect your tax money.
The state renegotiated its contract for paper towel dispensers, saving more than $24,000 a year. Now you can only get one paper towel at a time instead of a whole handful.
The state also saved $462,000 by updating its toner contract and more than $888,000 on their copy machine contract, freeing up more than $1.3 million.
Over a three-year period, the state was wasting more than $1 million on unneeded subscriptions and dues. For example, two offices right across from each other may’ve been subscribing to the same magazine; now they’re sharing.
Parkinson said there’s a long way to go.
The state is trying to be 100 percent energy efficient, which includes having janitors use “green,” or environmentally-friendly, products. Wherever possible, the state’s using energy-efficient light bulbs that use about 75 percent less energy.
The governor wanted to expand the state’s recycling program to every state office by the end of last year. We checked to see if state employees were living up to that promise. We randomly selected three state offices and they all had recycle bins.
While the state is trying to protect your tax dollars, top state leaders tell me they don’t deny more waste is lurking.
The state is also looking for your input. If you know any ways that your tax dollars are being wasted by the state, state leaders say they want to hear about it. Report the waste by logging onto www.governor.ks.gov.
Comments
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Feb. 1, 2008 at 9:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)Phillbert (anonymous)
This story is misleading people into believing the government is still spending money on things like unneeded cars and phone books.
All the figures cited in the beginning are money that was SAVED by NOT doing those things anymore, yet the reporter sensationalizes it to make it sound like those savings are ongoing costs.
How do I know this? Well, if you get halfway through the story you see that the government "fixed these problems". Yet the whole rest of the story makes it seem like it hasn't.
This is the worst sort of "journalism" and is a big reason why people don't trust TV news.
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