Mr. Strickland's Imaginary Spending Cuts

Governor Strickland boasted last week that he has slashed state spending by $366 million - but, as it turns out, more than half that number came from the combination of a MegaMillions jackpot payment and an accounting error. And the governor actually increased spending in the most bureaucratic agencies -- OBM, DAS and the governor's office istelf.

Mr. Strickland issued the written report to show he has reduced spending on contracts, maintenance and equipment during the first two quarters of the current biennium over the one before. He may wish he had not.  The Governor's Office increased its own spending by 73% -- which it blames in a footnote on "timing."

A look at the actual report is entertaining - and Mr. Strickland's own office wasn't the only agency that spent more while everyone else was trying to make do with less.

 Office of Budget and Management, an extra $3 million, or a 76% increase.
 Department of Agriculture, an extra $1 million, or nearly 24% increase.
 Department of Administrative Services, an extra $7.7 million, or more than 12% extra.

While Mr. Strickland leaned on little agencies, like the Veterinary Review Board to squeeze out $3,062.57 (9.5%), the bureaucrats in OBM and DAS spent merrily away.

The report points to some real cost-cutting, but one of the largest claimed reductions never happened at all. The supposed saving of $70.8 million in the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections was actually only $15.6 million. It turns out that the spending was just moved to another expense category, which nobody bothered to account for.

So of the claimed $366 million in spending cuts, $209.2 million don't exist - that is, Mr. Strickland's report is 57% wrong. That's a failing grade, even in Ohio's worst schools.

Mr. Strickland's spokesperson, Amanda Wurst, told the Columbus Dispatch that the Office of Management and Budget had reviewed the report and found no other "anomalies."

Why doesn't that make me feel any better? Because the anomalous report in question was prepared by the horribly misnamed Office of Management and Budget, which apparently does neither.

Posted on Sunday, February 14, 2010

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