Anonymous says:

"This morning's committee meeting reminded me - kids in state custody are
covered by Medicaid, but if the parents have private insurance, they are
required to continue it. Here's the deal, though - they use Medicaid as the
primary payor, not the private insurance. I have a son that has been in
residential treatment for almost 2 1/2 years. He is taken to Medicaid
dentists, Medicaid docs and once when he went to the ER, Medicaid was
billed, not our insurance. You could save a ton of money I bet if you
required DCFS to take children to providers covered by their primary
insurance, with Medicaid as the back-up."

Janice W. says:

The senators might as well be writing for the tabloids as their accusations on waste in some departments have no truth and they are not required to substantiate inappropriate posts. It is deplorable they they can attempt to cost people jobs on false pretenses.

Steve says:

I know there is talk about getting rid of the DPS helios. I however have seen those birds save lives.

I vote keep the heilos and get rid of the motorcycles. DPS motors are only even useable half the year. And those that do ride motors are still assigned cars. There is NOTHING they do on motors that can not be done in a car. Except for parades.

HollyontheHill says:

Too late now, but did the state really need to pay for signs to notify us that the unshoveled, unsalted walkways at the Capitol are closed during inclement weather?

BenJoeM says:

SB 199 is a waste of tax payer money. Why are we even considering a piece of legislation that would potentially take money away from schools. Waste!

Michael P. says:

Tammi makes some good points.

In 1996, before ramping up for TRAX, the bus system had a good growth rate and most of the valley had fair to good bus service, with Salt Lake and the U of U having A- transit service.
Now, Salt Lake and the U of U have A+ transit bus and rail service, but over a third of the valley has dropped to F or F+ bus service, with UTA's FastBus routes in the suburbs that only serve work trips to downtown and the U of U.
UTA has cut over 2,000 bus stops and dozens of routes, mostly in the suburbs. In the TRAX EIS, UTA promised a big jump in the number of bus routes and the number of bus stops in the Sandy-Draper area. Surprise! That's not what they have given us.
In Draper and Sandy, there only a dozen bus stops in a 14 square-mile area. The one bus route here runs only six times in each direction to those stops that are nearly a mile apart. It carries less than 25 people a day each way.
Now UTA wants to replace its worst SL-County bus route with a TRAX line that will cost over $1/2 billion.
Sandy and Draper really need the Highland Drive extension out to Bangerter for less than the cost of this ditsy TRAX line.

This is poor planning.
This is irrational.
This is foolishly wasteful, especially now.

Sue says:

I support the Obama administration in recinding all of the last minute oil leases that the Bush administration approved in Dec. 08. It was more of Bush's tactics to do whatever damage they could do to the environment in the name of money. Thank goodness their damage could be undone this time.

Sue says:

The "class" that needs to be gotten rid of is the homeroom class in middle school. Depending on the teacher, the kids are supposed to listen to Channel One and then write some sort of short report on it, to demonstrate that they were listening. My daughter, who is a straight A student, uses that 25 min. to read or do homework, but then gets a non-passing grade in that class. She is using her time wisely, and the non-pass grade doesn't affect her GPA, but what a waste of time that class is. Either call it study hall and let the kids do homework in there, or add 5 min. to their other classes.

utahnonldsnative says:

Comparasions of utah budget vs ny states. NY spends a bit more than Utah does but provides more direct care services to more people. Why?
http://publications.budget.state.ny.us/eBudget0910/ExecutiveBudget.html

http://le.utah.gov/lfa/reports/cobi2009/cobi2009.htm

Scott says:

A close look should be taken at the efficiency of road construction projects.
e.g. - The project at 106th So. and State which ended last year had that intersection under construction from ~Oct/Nov 2006 through ~Feb/Mar of 2008! I drive through there every day on my way to/from work. Some areas of the road sat coned off, empty, with no holes or construction going on for several weeks at a stretch. Anyone with minimal project management skills should be able to dramatically improve this situation. I am afraid this is typical for many construction projects and the cost is immense.

Scott says:

The TLC class that the legislature requires 7th graders to take is a waste of time. Get rid of this requirement so that real classes can be taught.

Concerned says:

How is it even remotely possible, in this day and age of budget cuts and cracking down on frivilous spending the Utah Army National Guard can find it ok to purchase a pontoon party boat of all things? I cant imagine what that cost. I can only imagine this is the tip of the iceberg in careless spending of taxpayer money.

Anonymous Says:

With the economy going the way it is....why doesn't Utah build a bigger better prison and then in turn take prisoners from other states or areas to help pay for it??

Doug B says:

Yesterday morning I saw a legislator on the morning news and he said that we are cutting the frivolous programs and making the state budget more efficient.

Isn't this what you were supposed to be doing all along!! At some point all these programs were worth it, atleast according to our lawmakers. And if they were not worth it why did you spend the money on them in the first place??? We in Utah have gotten complacent with many years of budget surpluses and if our lawmakers spent the money efficiently we should be in better shape now. There is nothing better to spend spend spend and not worry about the future but that is not why we elect leaders.

Nan says:

The centralization of IT in the state into DTS has been an absolute nightmare and a costly one at that. Programs are now paying a great deal more for connectivity, desktop support and programming staff, yet the staff do ot necessarily see the rate that programs pay too support their salaaries. Someone needs to do an audit on DTS - when DTS "took over" all State IT services, it didn't even have the billing structure in place to ensure that the proper programs were billed for services used. Charges were made without an understanding of the impact on budgets, many of which are federal funded. When charges significantly increase as they did with DTS, no one ever considered the impact the increased costs would have on programs. DTS employees got an across the board increase (only DTS employees, not the rest of state employees, no one! talked with Departments to assess the impact those increases would have on programs, services, etc. I do not think that we are any better off with a "centralized" system than we were before with a decentralized system. Surely there is a better way to provide IT services.

Cecilia says:

I am amazed that a legislator would propose to break up a state department with little information. The Utah Department of Health has a very fine reputation nationally for its work in a number of areas, such as information technology, innovative programs, results. One of the problems with public health is that people who work in the field do not advocate well for what they do every day to improve the public's health and well-being. Also, I do not think that most people know that federal funding is the majority of funding for many public health programs. Federal funding often has match requirements which means that non-federal funds have to be allocated to match the federal funds. Loss of the state general funds for a federal grant results in loss of the federal funding. I think that legislators should leave the micromanagement of Departments and budgets up to the Executive branch to determine where the cuts can be made with the least possible negative impact. I cannot understand why a legislator would cut services to citizens (that they themselves represent, so they say) in need at the expense of roads, etc. I believe that it says a lot about a society that is not willing, and in fact is punitive, to fund services for those in need. There is not way that any legislator has enough time to fully understand any Department's programs and work - so leave it up to those who do.

Utah Peach says:

Before you finalize the budget cuts, you need to look in your own shop for waste as there is waste in the legislature. Examples I can think of are the cushy new offices, the benefits that you bequeath yourselves, such as health insurance, etc. You need to look at the accuracy of the information that you consider in making decisions as it may not be true or accurate.

Nan says:

I have a response to "Amy": One always has to remember that things are not always as they seem. Could it be that the person who surfs the net all day is reseaching information about birth defects? I know enough about the work that the Birth Defects Network does to say that much of their work requires research into factors that may be associated with a particular birth defect, such as folic acid and neural tube defects. The science of birth defects and associated factors is just that, a science. People use the internet all the time to research issues that relate to their work. Don't be so quick to judge.

Allen says:

We need to get rid of the State Liquor Store system. It was dated back to prohabition. We do not need to employ state workers to be store keepers. I know they produce money for the state, but take away the building overhead, health, and retirement. We need to make loquor stores public business, increase employment, increase tax dollars and allow business people to run a business. We also need to get rid of the 3.2 rule. It causes citizens to cross state lines to buy real beer. 3.2 was left over from prohabition which was repealed in 29, most beers are the same from state to state as a 3.2 works our to between 4 to 5%. Let Utah come out of the dark ages and give back the freedoms to the citizens. I have found no evidence that state run stores reduce DUI, underage drinking, or alcholism, it is only control of Utah citiiz! ens, heck we can't even advertise so a person from out of state could find one. I think private business whould increase revenue from business license, loquor license, sales taxes, income taxes from employees,jobs, availibility of product. Private business liquor stores would be evenmore careful on selling to of age people or fear loss of license. when the State store sells to a minor, we can't remove their license!

DSmith says:

Why are you looking at furloughs before you look at making every department lay off retired state employees who have gone back to work? These are the people who should be laid off first and see what the savings is, then if needed look at an early out. Let those who are close to retirement be motivated to retire early without a penalty. Do not backfill those positions unless critical to the agency. Those should be the first priorities before making state employees take a furlough. Many state employees barely make above minimum wage, contrary to what the public perceives. A loss of one days pay may not seem like much but when you see a fellow colleage who is getting retirement and an additional paycheck that hurts. One days salary a couple of times a month could mean the difference of whether that person can make their hou! se payment or utility payments or not. The legislature should preach by example and cut their health benefits and play by the rules they make state employees follow. Maybe they should not get paid for this session or next year. If your so dedicated to doing this because you want to help then volunteer your time like your always trying to get everyone else to do!!! They are not losing any pay from their regular job, if they were they wouldn't have ever run for office. Start putting your money where your mouth is legislature!

Teresa says:

I have listened to several of the hearings, including the Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee. I haven't seen the level of bullying that I heard in that committee meeting since junior high school! What a waste of time and money. Mr. Liljenquist - you should be ashamed of yourself and so should your constituents for voting for you. This website is a crock and a waste of time and resources. I have had the opportunity to work with several state employees and departments. They have dedicated their lives to work in the public sector - despite the fact that they could take their degrees and make more in the private sector. They do this because they really want to make a difference and they care about what they do - yet you create this website - why? So you make it easier for yourselves to sleep at night? Start with the legislature - that's the only place I see waste!

Steve R. says:

We should not pay ill informed, self-serving legislators (the sponsors of this site included). I have lived all my life, and have never seen as big a waste as is our Utah Legislature.

Doug B. says:

I think you should furlough state employees to save money. Maybe a couple days a month so they could take them on different days and our services would be available to us during regular business hours. Or change their hours to 36 hours per week like some other states do.

B says:

Why was the SCHIP van in Evanston over Labor Day weekend?

GM says:

Why is it that "higher" education always needs to hire from outside the state? Do we have inferior schools? Most professors from outside of the state are higher at a premium because they are use to the cost of living from where they are from. On top of that, the new employee usually gets spousal accommodation, or in other words, a second job that could be filled with someone from Utah.
Tenure costs the state when a faculty decide they are to good to teach and their research is not innovative, but it is cheaper to keep them on rather than terminate their contract.
Furloughs only hurt professional and classified employees. This is a bad policy. First most faculty have a wife with a second job thus better able to with stand 2% - 4% cut in pay. Second with tenure, a university cannot trim deadwood because it takes a year plus to terminate a tenured faculty member.

Allen says:

We don't need 15 police depts inSalt Lake Counry. We need a Sheriff to do civil and the jail as under the state constitution. We need a Salt Lake county Police Dept with 1 Chief of Police, I deputy chief of police and maybe 15 sub-stations based in the various cities staffed by a commander (major or Capt) depending on population of the city and the same with numbers of patrol and middle management. Cities could pay for additional officers if they feel the need. This would reduce the price of service due to reducing the amount of overhead and greater effort can be placed on special units like SWAT, Gang, Bomb and such without duplicating.

Allen says:

Our elected legislature should have to follow the same rules for health insurance as all the other state employees. The legislature are part-time employees and not entitled to a better deal than any other state employee. If they want healthcare the should have to go to the private system. I knon this will not pass, but why are they entitled to special treatment on healthcare. If they want healthcare then pay the same as a regular state employee and get it only when on active duty. Retirement should be a 401K plan that we the taxpayer may contribute the sams as regular businesses about 5% matching upt to a 100 dollars a month.

Offices should be furnished with furnishings provided by the Utah Dept of Corrections, TV's could be around 125 dollars. If you wan to get rid of waste then look at yourselvs first.

Drug Sense says:

The war on drugs is a costly failure, and causes more harm than the drugs themselves.

James says:

You need to publicize this page. I saw it on the KSL website for one day and then it disappeared. How are you going to get good feedback if no one knows this page exists?

Carolyn M. says:

We have wasted tax payers dollars far too long favoring illegal immigration on the backs of Utah taxpayers.
With the economy worsening we need the tax revenues and jobs for our own citizens.
We can no longer afford to pay the cost for services to maintain "illegals" such as education, healthcare, law enforcement,foodstamps, welfare, jobs, etc. etc.
Immigration is great when done legally.We must enforce legal immigration law. We simply can not afford to ignore this issue (Proposition 81) any longer.
It is the duty of our elected officials to protect and uphold the law for our citizens.

Tammi D. says:

UTA is trying to get other "ENTITIES" more involved in Public Transportation for the Disabled and the Elderly. With the Economy is very likely Property Taxes would be Increased and Services for the Disabled and the Elderly would be cut. These ENTITIES would be Responsible for Drivers, Gas, Maintenance and the Purchase of more Vehicles in order to meet all the needs. UTA has Good Bus Service in Down Town Salt Lake City, in the Avenues and the University of Utah. UTA has Destroyed the Bus System in the rest of Salt Lake County. UTA needs to get Accessible Vans and Small Buses to go into Neighborhoods to Help Encourage People to take the Bus would take Individuals to the Main Bus Routes and Trax. UTA needs to work on Barrier Free, Benches and also Increase the Frequency of Buses. This would reduce the need for Paratransit and bring down the cost of Paratransit. This would be Transportation for all. A Good Bus System does not bring in Huge Bonuses for the High Paid Executives.

Utahnonldsnative says:

Valley Mental health is a waste of money. They suck in the money and except for the rep payee program has not been substanial in helping anyone else. THy take medicaid for a ride and refer most people elsewhere full well knowing anyone on medicaid will be denied mental health care. They are the only contract provider in the SL valley. They have a monopoly!

Ann P. says:

I'm concerned about the 'waste' in education in the substitute policy in the Jordan District. There are 900 substitutes that can be from a high school grad to a Associates Degree, to a certified teacher, to a retired teacher, etc. in the same pool of teachers that the district sends to the schools. UNLESS a teacher or school prefers a substitute, the school may be getting a substitute who just wants the money and is not qualified to teach. YES, they have passed the background check and the fingerprinting, but that does not mean they are qualified to teach in a classroom! I've heard substitutes who did a puppet show, or who hardly spoke English, or who did not do anything the teacher requested to do while absent. This is a very poor way of spending money in the district's education! There are quality substitutes who a! re certified, in the process of re-certifying, or who can prove they are a good source to be used for substitutes! And YES this is a big deal, because on the average there are 250 substitutes used in a day just in Jordan District alone. And they are making $82/day, unless certified at $90/day. That means $20,500 a day for the $82 day rate. Let's make sure they are quality substitutes!

Brandon says:

I nominate THIS WEBSITE -- you should investigate this website's creation and maintenance for wasteful government spending. The reason I say that is because I don't honestly believe that any of you are honestly going to look into the SIGNIFICANT issues the people have brought up here. What you are going to do, instead, is to look for "pet projects"... issues that are easy to sway people and easy to solve but that probably don't amount to a serious cost-savings when compared to many of the other, larger, problems also presented here that you will just skip over. You will find "problems" here which don't solve a whole lot but sound nice and make people who vote for you "FEEL BETTER" (about you). This website is a scam, a political tactic, a device to mask the public's eyes to what it is you are REALLY doing. The guy who posted the furniture you guys bought and the prices you guys paid for each item is the example I draw from to demonstrate that this is true. If you guys cared so much about wasteful spending, you wouldn't be the ones holding the reins for that furniture! Also, if you were TRULY interested in wasteful spending you wouldn't be looking for advice from citizens about such small expenses (by comparison) when we have a looming $800BILLION dollar waste of government money being created right now as I type this on the federal level -- instead, you'd be spending your time and resources gathering citizen's groups, lawyers, politicians, etc. together at the state level and trying to determine (in a very big and public way that EVERYONE in the state would know about) how, exactly, the people of the state of Utah can absolve ourselves of this national fiscal abuse. Just a few days ago the legislature of Vermont got tired of the heavy-handedness of the federal gov't and passed a bill declaring that any further encroachment of Rights by the federal government would be construed by VT as a final violation of the constitutional contract and reason enough for VT to secede from the union. If VT can do this, surely UT can draft something saying we absolutely refuse to accept the federal pork-barrel spending bills and absolutely refuse to pay anything in higher taxes, EVER, to pay off that portion of the federal deficit. But no... instead of spending your time educating the public of Utah and doing your best to DEFEND us against our aggressors at the federal level, you are trying to hide from the real problems we face by asking us to "turn in" a police department who maybe spent too much on a new car or something. Instead of trying to save us BILLIONS of future debt you are trying to make us "FEEL GOOD" by helping us to save $10,000. You guys are a shame, a mockery, and are disgusting. Stop trying to hide your own scams by hunting down other scammers. This isn't Salem and we shouldn't be helping you find "witches" -- YOU ARE THE WITCHES!

John H. says:

When asked about the money spent on new office furniture for legislators Sen. Valentine said, "It doesn't seem to be astonishingly high." I beg to differ. Too much was spent. All the furniture in the elementary school where I teach is 10+ years old. When we need to replace a student desk a used one is pulled out of storage.

Does it matter says:

Who is funding this blog?
And why was this made on January 21?
Personally, I think it is irresponsible to provide a forum for public opinion that prominently displays figures of public office without any information regarding who is paying for it.
The lack of information reguarding the creation and funding of this website should certainly be available.
I think it would provide a better and more informed forum, if this website included budget information for Utah.

Rod says:

Stop giving to illegal aliens and they will leave. Take away the reason for being here and they will leave. This should save a lot of money. Illegal is ILLEGAL!!!!

Doug B. says

It is unbelievable that you are considering breaking up the Dept. of Health. 20 years ago it and Human Services became to large to keep as one so it split. Here we are 20 years later wanting to go backwards and put them together again. You guys seem like you in a panic. Slow down and consider what you are doing. After all, we elect people we believe are going to be strong leaders, but sometimes you don't seem to be leaders at all. A few years back you considered doing away with DCFS and giving it to a private company. Anymore thoughts on that? Why don't we get rid of the State Police and turn it over to the local police. Cuts are needed and they need to be thought through very carefully.It seems that we never save as much money as we thought we would save. What about the General Fund? These slow times are not going to last forever.

Doug B. says:

You people seem to spend time passing laws that don't mean anything. Such as texting or email while driving. This isn't going to stop anyone. Why not make it a felony punishable with jailtime or large fines for anyone who causes an accident while doing these things. If the punishment is strong it may just stop a few people from doing it.

Rufus B. says:

I saw a report in Box Elder County where a teacher took a Spanish class to SLC to a Mexican Restaurant so they could experience the culture. How ab sured. Teachers seem to spend MORE time trying to figure out how to AVOID teaching than teaching.
Also, when students are allowed (encouraged by the teachers union) to take off from school to PROTEST to the Legislature or anything else, the school should be heavily FINED the first time, and charged with defrauding the tax payers the next time. The students should have to pay for the missing funds.

Rufus B. says:

I attended a Hunter Education Instructor class and was APPALLED by the fact that the Wildlife dept. is offering the Hunter Ed. Safety class in SPANISH. Why the hell do we need to waste money printing information in Spanish or teach in Spanish. If the person wanting to HUNT in Utah does not READ, SPEAK, OR UNDERSTAND ENGLISH, THEY ARE NOT GOING TO BE SAFE WITH A FIREARM OR DRIVING. Again, the Wildlife Dept. can not get a grip on LOGIC.

Rufus B. says:

The Wildlife dept. (as well as most departments in the state) wastes money by having their own in house background checks. The BCI is better equipped to do this and would save duplication of services and a lot of wasted money and time.

Rufus B. says:

The Wildlife dept. is wasting thousands of dollars on helicopters moving animals around. Much worse they give animals to Mexico and do not even know what they are can get back. I talked to the program director for giving antelope to Mexico and he could not tell me what WE the People of this State will get for them. Let's just stop funding silly projects like this and if there are too many animals in an area, let hunters have more tags. Last winter (2008) the feeding program did not start soon enough and the wildlife dept. told land owners NOT to feed the deer and elk. As a result hundreds of deer died and many elk. The 2008 hunting season was the worst I have seen in 15 years of hunting in Utah. Why not issue special tags (for Money of coarse) to hunters to take starving animals. This makes too much sense for the Wildlife de! pt. to accomplish.

Rufus B. says:

Stop sending money to farmers and ranchers to NOT grow or produce something.

Robin M says:

I read an article in the Daily Herald about the lawmakers having $10,000.00 spent on their office furniture. It made me spitting mad!!!! Why can't they go to an office supply and buy their furniture OR go to Desert Industries like the rest of us ? The inmates that are at Corrections are there for a reason. You can't tell me that the materials used for the desks were that expensive. Are we actually paying the inmates to make the furniture????? What is wrong with the furniture they had? Could that furniture not been refurbished? Could they not have gone to the discount store ,Habitat For Humanity?
My word----it is only a chair and a table. We pay the lawmakers and buying their furniture-----do they not make enough to buy their own furniture? Did they forget that we are in a bad economic situation?

Utahnonldsnative says:

To much is being wasted on charter schools for a few. To many public schools are not following spec ed laws and working with the state board of ed to do a better job. To many teachers are never even trained in special ed. I had to tell a friends granddaughter's school psychologiist about temp IEP and section 504!
For spec ed help and info and the process and complaint process, go to www.idea.ed.gov

Michael S. says:

What do we elect senators and representatives for when they dont listen to the people that voted them in and instead are swayed by lobbyists and groups that have big wallets? I havent talked to one person that thought the first bailout was a good idea, and reports stated that 80-90 percent of Americans felt the auto makers shouldnt get a bail out and now we're talking of another almost trilllion dollar bailout that once again no one I have talked to wants. We wont make deals with terrorists because its a never ending cycle once you do give in to their demands. Is this so different? These companies obviously overextended themselves once, do we think that they learned anything here? Well except that the next time we will be eager to give them more. Lets get back to the basics, and make our representatives do just that and represen! t our wishes.

Michael S. says:

I'm fed up with both our local and federal government trying to coddle the illegal immigrant population and try to find ways to not step on anyones toes and upset them. Recently in the Salt Lake Tribune I read where on the one hand we have a bill that has already been passed, and rightly so I might add, about letting local and state police take more of a stand on illegal immigrants, but now soome representatives want to postpone it and make sure we dont hurt their feelings. Then it lists a couple more bills that I believe is encouraging more illegal immigrants to come here with "guest worker programs" and "driving cards" etc. We already have laws and programs for this, they are called green cards and visas, if they really want the benefits of being Americans and to help the country and themselves they would go through the steps t! hat all our forefathers went through when they landed at Ellis Island and actually learned English and became American citizens to better their lives. What makes them any different that they should get a free ride when the rest of us are here because of hard work and determination? If we would ship the illegals out and heavily penalize those companies that hire them, then our jobless rate wouldnt be so high because there would be alot more jobs for AMERICANS!! The first step this country needs to make is change the law that says just because a child is born here that makes them an American citizen, no other country believes that and thats why our social security and welfare and retirement benefits will not be there for those that really need it in the future.

James says:

Utah's higher ed system is a joke. There VP's and assistants for everything. Most of them do absolutely nothing but create paper work for those that teach. Several more simply have offices with titles but no real job because they have been "promoted" to get them out of the way. I have taught for over 20 years at the both the community college and university levels and just because an administrator has a PHD doesn't mean they have any common sense. What it means is that they can make a mountain out of a mole hill and whine like a little child when they don't get their way. Why is a person with a PHD even allowed to teach lower division classes? Most of them have the personality of a pot hole and look down at everyone that does not belong to their elite group. PHD professors should be hired to research. Schools should hire BS and ! at the most MS degree people to actually teach the classes; besides, you wouldn't have to pay them as much. Take UVU for example. Now that it is a university, they ONLY hire PHD professors and they aren't even a research school. How stupid! Paying PHD professors to teach community college level courses is like IHOP hiring expensive French chefs to make pancakes. I know I could eliminate 25 million from where I work and the students would be better served. The problem is if I ever said anything in public, I'd be fired before the day was over.

JL says:

When does a Community College get too big to be student friendly? look at SLCC and you'll see it is way beyond that. Smaller schools deliver better education and encourage students rather than intimidate them. SLCC should be broken up and downsized back to a managable institution.

Freddy B says:

If we continue to ignore the Illegal Alien population issue and keep pretending that it does not translate into higher crime rates, worsening gang problems, rising costs of medical services, school etc., ALL things inherently owed to all citizens and NONE to those who defy our laws, come here, use what they will, think they have equal rights as citizens, then I fear that in a few short years it will be too late to address, and we will become like many cities of slums and gangs, housing projects, young kids and young men with guns, shooting for turf, an overwhlemed police force who all too often turn an eye for the problems have become to overwhelming, the courts overburdeoned, the jails overcrowded and the city deteriorate and smeared with grafitti..No, we must tackle the illegal alien problem now...for pretending it isn't so ba! d now and waiting for another day simple adds on to the pile until the pile cannot be undone. We need a proactive approach and not a reactive. Presently, we are in a state of denial. Look at California with its 31 billion dollar shortfall, much of it is maintaining the cost of the status quo inasmuch as it hails itself as the "Safe Haven" for illegals...Now, when many want something done, it cannot, the time for action had passed, the numbers too great and the pressure too cumbursome, the politics of it too devicive...If things could have been addressed many years ago, perhaps the costs savings of providing for those illegal however unfortunate and passionate we may be..would be far less. We cannot break laws and then demand equality. No, first we do things legally and that includes "Entry" into the U>S and then demand equal access. The notion of "Free Rides" must come to an end and surely Utah is not immune and will suffe immensely over time, so the question then becomes...When t! hat time does come, will it be too late? I fear, it truly will be.

Rochelle says:

More special education waste ...

A diagnosed disability doesn't mean an educational classification reflecting the disgnosed disability. School districts waste who knows how much money giving evaluations that, in some cases, end up negating the medical diagnosis ... denying students the services that student is entitled to and that the state provides money for.

Health care plans aren't followed. In our case, the district refused to believe there was a cardiac arrhythmia they had reccived documentation regarding and refused to call for paramedics. It took the resource officer to call.

When a parent lets the school know of something that isn't working, which Beth Usui's own Do's and Don'ts for IEP meetings asks parents to do, the parent is kicked off school grounds and is unable to monitor adherence to IEPs. The school calls police citing the criminal trespass on school grounds, knowing being at school monitoring compliance is being there on valid business and therfore the trespass law doesn't apply.

Schools give substandard curriculum paid for out of education funds and grant graduation credits for 0, 6 and 10% progress toward annual goals. Goals completed 100% at home are marked 40% and insufficient progress for graduation credits.

Needed technology and services are denied based on personal feelings by administrators ... they don't even follow their own lawyers' recommendations.

Allen says:

Taxpayer health support should only be for those who are in this country legal. Employers who are found employing people who are not here legal should be charged criminally and given fines and jail. If we don't allow people to work who are not here leagl then they will not stay here. Proof of citizenship or a valid green card should be required to obtain any governmental assistance.

Allen says:

Our Legislators should not get health and retirement benefits for life. They are a part-time employee (temporary). I say we can contribute to their own 401K while in office and provide health care just like national guard, while on active duty only.

Mark says:

Why should our legislators get life time health insurance benefits after serving two terms? In 2005 the legeslature gutted the after retirement health insurance benefits that state employees recieved as compensation for unused sick leave. These benefits were cut because the cost of maintaining the level of health care insurance was too high for the state to fund. However, the same legeslators continue to protect their own life time health insurance coverage at tax payers expence. Hypocracy abounds!

Amy says:

Why do the people who decide to have more children than they can afford get a tax break while people like myself who have chosen to never have children still have to pay taxes for everyone elses children while they get tax breaks and I don't??? I think if you hit the age of 35 or 40 and you still don't have children that you should receive a tax break for not contributing to the population. For those people who want to have these large families, they should pay extra for their kids to go to school and to be a part of the population. I am tired of having to pay for other peoples children!!

Amy says:

I have worked in the Medical Field for quite sometime and through the years I have seen time and time again people on Welfare/Medicaid that are abusing system and truly do not need the assistance. I have acquaintances that are abusing the system. Every where I turn I see people working this system so when are we finally going to put our foot down and say NO! be responsible for your own life... go get a job! I have actually been told multiple times by acquaintances that they make too much money being on welfare so why would they go work? I agree with others on this site that state illegal aliens are getting assistance, that is also just wrong! On the flip side I know of a single mother who just needed Medicaid temporarily for her children and no other financial assitance and she was denied because she made too much at her job. There is just simply something SO wrong with this entire portion of government. I truly believe it needs to be fully revamped!

Rochelle says:

Education in Utah is broken. AG Shurtleff said it best when he called education a rogue agency who acts without regard to the law or consequences.
Administration in the Jodan School District is wasteful and abusive to parents who exercise their rights. They maintain at least two high priced law firms and involve them (wasting money that should be going into classrooms instead of compromising in the student's best interest as mandated by the USA Supreme Court. They falsify and purge record (Yes, I have official documentation proving that). They make false claims to CPS in order to create animosity they can then use to discredit parents who have been wrongly vilified and who are never infornmed their names are now on the secret list of people who have been reported regardless of innocence. They file false criminalcharges and get away with it because they are believed withourt question. They went so far as to intentionally trifgger an autistic panic so they could send a child who didn't belong in the juvenile court system there after the child was arrested. Juvenile court was less than thrilled and threw the charges back! as no evidence of a creime, but the district created documentation that says they dropped the charges.
Why waste money avoiding their obligations and trying to create precedent that relieves them of those obligations?
I would love to sit down and show you this documentation or at least find out how much money districts spend on legal fees.
Not even the USOE will help. The compliance officer is regularly out of compliance herself with no way to hold the office accountable because they have governmental immunity.
The legislature gave education the tools by which they've become that rogue agency.
They misuse the money and then cry poverty.

Kent D says:

We as a state need to quit allowing the illegal aliens to stay here and get on public assistance our crime rate is through the roof and it is approximately 97% hispanic the majority of which are illegal if we close our borders we save money on public assistance and law enforcement and housing these people in our jails and our prisons I am sick and tired of my tax dollars going to support them and every day I see something in the news about the government welcoming them here why it needs to stop immediately....

dmitch says:

I agree with Jon N, I drive commercialy and most buses and trains I see are empty. The UTA is a money pit. Same goes for UDOT, much scrutiny needs to be applied.

Bryan T says:

Uh guys...? So who was responsible for the Legislators' furniture? I can appreciate what you're trying to do here but tell me this isn't a bit hypocritical. Isn't this the exact sort of thing you're trying to find? Both of you guys were in the Legislature in 2007 right?

From today's SLTrib:
Per item furniture costs for legislative offices:
Desk » $1,931.80
Credenza with lateral file box » $2,523.67
Barrister bookcase » $2,744.00
Roll-top computer desk » $2,389.00
Wardrobe » $1,339.00
Round meeting table » $1,474.00
4 side chairs » $1,756.00
Office chair » $600.00
Secretary hutch (for senators) » $2,473
Television (for House members) » $442
Total
House office » $15,199.47
Senate office » $17,230.47
Source: Capitol Preservation Board

Chris says:

There were reports in the news recently about the legislative per diem, where even some who live within driving distance were still taking the hotel per diem.
Has anything been done about this? I recall that several top Salt Lake County officials lost jobs and the Auditor was convicted of theft for either unauthorized gas purchases or use of county property for personal reasons. I don't see how being reimbursed for something you never used is any different. Any legislator who takes the hotel reimbursement and didn't actually stay in one is unethical, in my opinion. This is just another example that gives the public the perception that our legislators can't be trusted.

Tmoney says:

I get PAID $9/hour to be someone's friend. The state (DSPD) reimburses the nonprofit I work for when I take a guy with retardation to buy his food and do his laundry. But they also pay me to take him to the movies, etc. I also get paid to do virtually nothing with another couple, and a woman who works at Carls Jr. but never needs a "job coach" like me.

Amy says:

Utah Birth defects network... They do NOT need a receptionist. The receptionist sits and does the job of the coordinator, while the coordinator sits and surfs the internet all day.

Dale M says:

Once again the State of Utah builds a new project and on the Security Access Control equipment they only allow one company in the state to give them a price Utah /Yamas Controls who is the only company in the state that carries the TAC product line. So they will again carge the state 3 x the price because of no competition. The project is Webber School District South Ogden Jr. High New School. The state of Utah over the past decade has spent 10's of millions of dollars to this company.Maybe you should check the state employees who go to Hawaii free each year on vacation and stay at the owners Condo for free.

Katherine says:

My husband works in construction building the schools. There is an incredible amount of waste when purchasing items for the schools. Custom built light fixtures for $800.00 when the same lights could be bought for under $100.00. There are many instances like this. Flat screen high definition televisions in every classroom, custom designs built into the brickwork, or floors.

RA says:

The following statement was made back in January 2006. Does anyone know if we are still feeding inmates above the USDA recommended daily calories of 2,000? The reference is from Warden Clint Friel of the Utah State Prison
Most of Utah’s sedentary prisoners, on the other hand, love their 3,000 calories of daily food so much that one warden fears prison riots if the portions are reduced and healthier food in introduced. “You get one riot, you’re into millions and millions of dollars,” says Warden Clint Friel.But inmates in Utah prisons gain considerable weight during their first year, 34 pounds on average for men, 17 for women.

Laura says:

i know families that receive food stamps that are more than what an average family would pay. For example, my family consists of two adults and two young children. We spend $150 a month on groceries and are comfortable. A single woman with children the same ages as mine receives $400 in food stamps!
A co worker of mine who has 4 teenagers in her home plus her husband spends $400 a month. A family I know with 4 latency age children and a couple receive $700 a month in food stamps.
Is something not wrong with this? Maybe when someone gets food stamps they need to be educated on how to use coupons and other smart ways of shopping. Let's educate and then hopefully the amount of food stamps being given can be decreased!

Randy says:

Rep. Dougall: Donate that new tv to my 2 daughters school. Wasatch Elementary in SLC.

Steve R. says:

Many fiscally responsible public corporations (not banks) are freezing cost-of-living pay raises for ALL employees (from the corner office down) to avoid the reduction of human resources to preserve operating income. Should not ALL Utah budgetary beneficiaries receive the same treatment as employees of these profitable corporations? Freeze ALL COL salary adjustments (at least for the legislature and their interns).

jed says:

All the new police cars that I see have the very expensive LED light bars (between 1500 to 3000 dollars each) and the strobe lights inserted into the headlight and tail lights (between 800 and 1200 dollars each). What was wrong with the old rotating lights which are just as visible and cost a lot less, half in most cases.

Jon N says:

I would say the buses (that the state of Utah helps to fund) driving around with no one on them a collosal waste (not only money wise but pollution wise too). There are a few things that can be done to help with the problem.
First we could cut back on the services for the buses that don't normally carry anybody around to once every hour, or even less if possible. Second, we could start purchasing smaller buses. Third, (now this is for the long term view) we could implement a "smart" system where the route varies depending whoever signs up to ride. You could automate this by having people sign up online and, of course, you would have to have a call in service for those w/o internet. This would take a year or two to develop but it would definitely be worth while, I imagine there would be less pollution and less financial waste once it is all said and done.
I write this because I had to take the bus the other day to go pick up my car at the mechanic and the bus driver said that noone ever rode on this route during the time of day I took it, what a waste!

JR says:

Capitol reflecting pool.How much does it cost to heat and soften the water all winter? Silly!!

Brian N. says:

Hey guys I have a real big tip on waste. Sanpete County and Ephraim City has been working on putting in a $23 million airport. This is airport only has 5 small private airplanes on it and only a handfull fly in and out of this airport. They have no way to sell them selfs on this idea its just a bunch of pork barrel spending they are wanting. UDOT has spent over $5 million on widening highway 89 between Manti and Ephraim for this airport project.

Ron C. says:

Quit wasting money on the Holiday Free Parking campaign. Those big bows are pretty but very expensive and the cost to install them isn't cheap either. Just announce that there will be free parking during December and if people aren't listening and put money in the meter . . . so be it. Their stupidity can be money in the tax payer's pocket!

Doug says:

A few years ago, I heard than there were 50 IT Data Centers in state agencies. Since then, I believe there may have been efforts to consolidate State services, but don't know if they included consolidating Data Centers. If so, there would clearly be cost savings on storage racks, server disk space, and administrative costs, etc.

Kevin says:

Remove 9/10 off the price of gas. I can't pay for 9/10 a cent so you shouldn't charge me for it.

Terry & Linda L say:

We consider it a shame that many people are unemployed and yet many retired government employees hold down government jobs. Government employees (once referred to as civil servants), now receive better pay with better benefits than the private sector and we now wonder who the servants really are. Anyway, we believe it time for Utah to pass a law forbidding any government agency from state to local governments to hire a retired government employee unless the employee is willing to give up the corresponding retirement pay. The U.S. government does that and it is now time to give more people an opportunity for a state or local government job. This should also apply to teachers, since there are approximately 7500 teachers with expired teacher certificates and many of those would like a teaching job and opportunity to get re-cert! ified. We are tired of the old excuse that they are saving the government money because they don’t have to be trained but we suspect that it is really nepotism or cronyism at work; or could it be that these people are going to live forever.

srb says:

The practice of man per car for public safety needs to be looked at for city,county and state agencies. You have to have 3 vehicles for a 24 hour shift along with the related expenses that generates. Also the officers are being susidized by providing them a vehicle for personal use at a miniscule monthly fee that includes fuel and the cost of insurance. The rationale that having the officers drive the vehicles home creates a deterant to crime in neighborhoods is not well founded and does this ofset the cost of the extra vehicles.

DB says:

There is to much time and money being waisted on "General Studies" at the colleges and Universities. The majority of students who get a degree don't retain a thing from their "General Studies" courses. Why? Because they don't apply to the students everyday life and so they don't get used or applied. These students just learn how to regergitate what the Professor wants for the test and then they forget it. These courses are a waist of the students and teachers time and Tax dollars. Let the students get on with the focus of their education.

David says:

Great website Rep. Dougall and Sen. Urquhart. I think that a significant amount of money is wasted every year to support the State's R.S. 2477 litigation. I think the budget for R.S. 2477 litigation is around $2 million every year. R.S. 2477 litigation involves attempts by the State of Utah and rural counties to assert ownership over faint two-track roads traversing public lands. They worry that eventually the federal government could prevent them from using these roads. The only way to definitively get title to these claimed routes is through the courts. While it is understandable that rural counties may be interested in these routes, this is a wasteful expenditure that should be cut in these difficult times. Utah has been spending this R.S. 2477 money every year for more than a decade and yet we still do not have one single R.S. 2477 claim validated. Furthermore, the routes the State and the counties are contesting are usually Class D roads (unmaintained dirt roads). They generally do not access anything other than a dead end or a vista; these are not the dirt roads that connect rural towns or that access coal mines or gas wells. The fight revolves around these roads because the federal government never threatens the State's use of the maintained, obvious roads that really matter. In the end, we flush millions down the drain every year to try and take title of faint tracks in the desert and mountains that are not necessary for our transportation infrastructure in the first place. This money would be put to better use funding education, repairing our vital highways, or helping with human services. Let's cut the R.S. 2477 budget.

Bob says:

The Salt Lake City School district is truly heavy on top, not just in staff, but also in the use of funds. Tens of thousands of dollars are spent on food each year for those that work in the District Office. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent each year for travel/lodging/food for "training" meetings to other states such as Hawaii, as well as foreign countries like China. Give the students a good education, and don't pamper the staff.

House of Representatives - New TVs

Here is a great example of waste we found on the very first day of the session. In a downturn budget year, somehow all of the members of the House found themselves with new 21" 720p HD TVs in their offices. You can see the TV I brought in from home off to the side, so I clearly don't need a new TV. I can't buy the new one myself, and I can't sell it and no one will take it back when I try and return it, and none will tell me who bought it! So I'm stuck with a travesty of an unconscionable waste of money in my office that I didn't authorize. -Rep. John Dougall

Danny says:

Why not have a section devoted to the waste in our legislature. Seems to me we've got people wasting a lot of valuable time on the hill passing bills preventing the distribution of birth control to wild animals and securing water rights for their own business (atomic power). I'd like to see some of the real issues in Utah taken up by the legislature instead of these borderline wacko and borderlline illegal (water for atomic power plants)non-issues. I think most of state government runs pretty well but there are some abuses. A site like this is a good one but we need to keep better tabs on the legislature itself.

Welcome to all Utah Policy Daily readers!

This morning, our blog was picked up by the fantastic Utah Policy Daily (www.utahpolicy.com). We welcome Utah's political junkies to our site and hope that we can be an outlet for your thoughts and welcome your input as the sentries of politics.
We also encourage our readers and contributors to watch for an upcoming news story to be aired on Fox 13.
Thank you to all of you who have contributed so far! We are grateful for your front-line perspective and look forward to hearing from as many citizens as possible.

Jason says:

I have kids in elementary school and education is a top priority in my book. I have heard numerous remarks from teachers about the top heavy structure of public education. There are way too many administration and school board employees, and many of them are paid double what a great teacher is paid. The workload of a teacher is almost limitless and it is linked to their effectiveness. The workload of administrators is light and only loosely correlated.

Matt S. says:

The State of Utah get's ripped off when it comes to hiring companies to construct highways. How often do you see 10 guys standing around highway construction with a mouth-full of chaw, staring at one guy doing some work? Unbelievable! There needs to be an independent auditing firm awarded a contract to watch these people and make sure we aren't wasting millions of taxpayers dollars on all of these unecessary workers who are probably just family members of the contractor that was awarded the job!!!

J J says:

The office staff at Granite School District Transportaion. Has free catered steak luncheons. While making the rest of the employees pay for special events. tell me their not something wrong with this picture.

Brent C says:

I think this is a great idea if used correctly. This could create some accountability that would otherwise go unseen.
I would like to start with a question as to why Legislature is not listed as one of the Governmental agencies? There is waste their as well. For example, reimbursing for lodging, meals and travel even when Legislatures choose to return home. Also, was Legislatures included in the 7.5% cuts for the 2009 budget? Will they be take cuts in 2010 budget? All other State Agencies were and are taking these cuts.
So please let this be for ALL areas funded by Tax Payers.

B P says:

I am well aware of the vast population of Salt Lake County and the large amount of responsibility on its employees. However, when a person accepts an employment position with the state or county, it should be understood that they are accepting a position of civil service. My frustration falls on civil servants being paid more than business executives in private industry. Should a County Surveyor be making nearly 200K? Should a Sheriff earn a higher salary than a Doctor? Do many of these positions require a college degree or just a healthy campain contribution? Could these same jobs be just as effecient at 75K? Why should a civil servant being paid with tax payer dollars earn four times the amount of the average tax payer? Could someone set me straight?

JT says:

University presidents do not need to live in state owned residences. All of them make huge salaries, yet all their expenses i.e. food, utilities, vehicle, etc. are paid for by the taxpayer. These positions (along with their associated VP's) have turned into nothing more than corporate executives living fat off the taxpayer. Don't give me the BS that we need to pay them that much to get good ones becacuse that is simply not true.

Terra S says:

E-Rep (their new computer system)does not work, and never will work the way it was intended. Their response to every over-payment, ineligible case, error they get is "We expect E-rep will solve that problem." You need to talk to the people who know the facts, not to the people who are paid to sell DWS and their 'cutting edge' ideas.

Monica says:

I couldn't agree more with Kassi. My son attends a special autism preschool program for which we are extremely grateful, but it made me furious when I showed up on the first day only to find out that there were 2 new ILLEGAL students in the class whose mother had to have 2 paid employees there to interpret for her and they bent over backwards to accomodate her. She was mad that she was going to have to wait a week to get bus service and threw a fit so this ILLEGAL family got their kid signed up the first day of school to receive special instruction not only for autism but also in SPANISH AND THEY GOT BUS SERVICE THE NEXT DAY!!!!! When we signed up our child, we had to wait 2 weeks for bus service. WHY DO WE BEND OVER BACKWARDS TO ACCOMODATE THESE ILLEGALS!!!! It's infuriating and a HUGE expense.

Preston B says:

I as many others that I have talked to, believe something needs to be done about the Hunter application process. It used to stand before the computer age that hunting applications were completed by hand then sent off to Fallon Nevada for processing. Today 90% of applications are filled out the hunter on the computer with no need to process a application, yet the application fee still apllies with some proceeds going to Fallon NV, and more proceeds going to DWR even when they dont do anything to recieve it. Seems to me that with todays online system capabilities the DWR would save millions by creating their own online draw system and pockting the the money sent to NV that has no benift what so ever to the State of Utah. The old process of sending things to NV may have once suited a purpose, yet with todays Computer Technology this seems to me to need looked at and upgraded so all the money stays in the People of Utah's hands. Maybe someone with knowledge and clout can look into this, seems to me that this could bring millions to the state of Utah over the years to come!

Albert W says:

I have always felt the State Automobile Fleet is abused. I have witnessed employees driving state vehicles as personal cars and driving them home as a personal car.I have worked for Purina for 33 years and we do not have company cars, but are paid only for business mileage. I think someone needs to investigate the wasteful spending in the State Of Utah Auto Fleet.

Kassi says:

I absolutely think that the extra funding used to teach migrant children that are here illegaly in spanish only classrooms takes hard earned money from the mouths of children who speak our national language. STOP SPENDING OUR TAX DOLLARS EDUCATING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE AND PUT THE MONEY BACK INTO THE EDUCATION OF THE CHILDREN WHOS PARENTS PAY FOR IT WITH THEIR TAX DOLLARS

Brad says:

The vast majority of the new road projects are a huge waste of taxpayer funds. I-15 expansion in Utah County, Vinyard Connector, Pioneer Crossing, Mountainview Corridor, and many others are all examples of little foresight and a lot of rutted thinking. These roads will lead to continues sprawl, increased travel times, increased congestion over time, increased air pollution, and less friendly communities. They provide no options for seniors or other disadvantaged people. When will we begin providing transportation options instead of the same old solution that has been proven over and over not to work? Where is the equal investment in transit and other transportation infrastructure?

Lloyd M says:

How much would it cost to run a data base that tracks a person having an alcoholic beverage? This is a stupid idea even if we had the money. Without the money it is even worse.

Martha G says:

Salt Lake Community parking services is over staffed and the staff is seldom seen actually writing tickets. If they actually worked some revenue would be generated.

tk says:

check Genesis Youth Center have had portable showers for 6 months @ $3000 a month and havent used them for 3 months

Dsfast says:

Allowing private insurance companies to exclude coverage that Medicare and Medicaid cover shifts financial burden to the state.Diseases that have treatments with private insurance companies are excluding(because the law allows them) that eventually drive the health conditions of individual to disability. The bottom line for private insurance should not burden Medicare and Medicaid(tax payer).

First day of the Session

Yesterday was the opening of the 58th session of the Utah State Legislature. This year we will face unique challenges as we find ways to trim the budget and make certain that each and every tax dollar is used to its full capacity.
Wouldn't it be great if the cuts that were made were legitimate government waste instead of arbitrary cuts on projects that need the money? Help us find places where money is being wasted so that we can direct it to where it really needs to go!

Utah's Departments

We've listed the main governmental agencies here for your convenience. Please share with us places where you've found government waste - and feel free to vote and comment on other folks' posts!

Agriculture, Commerce, Corrections, Public Ed, Higher Ed, Health, Human Services, Insurance, Legislature, Natural Resources, Public Safety, Transportation, Workforce Services, Other.