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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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!

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.

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).

JR says:

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

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.

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.