Auburn85 432 Posted February 6, 2005 Share Posted February 6, 2005 http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/inde...16665395450.xml We are tied for last with California. Alabama's government ranked last, tied with California's with a grade of C-, in a survey released today on how well each state is managed. The Government Performance Project, a group directed by the University of Richmond and funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts in Philadelphia, released the survey. Its report cards on all 50 states are set to appear in the February issue of Governing magazine. Advertisement Alabama's government earned C's in managing money, people and information and a D in managing infrastructure such as highways and bridges. It was given an overall C- grade. The median grade was B-, meaning 25 states scored that grade or better and 25 states scored that grade or worse. Despite Alabama's low ranking, project editor Richard Greene said steps taken by Gov. Bob Riley and his staff offer a glimmer of hope. ``The hidden story is that Alabama in a number of areas has really been improving, focusing on doing the right thing," Greene said. ``It's a very difficult job for a state like Alabama to dig itself out of a hole that's been 100 years in the making." Greene said he was especially impressed by the SMART budget process started last fall by state Finance Director Jim Main. It requires agency heads to set targets for funding, staffing and performance, and to provide yardsticks to measure efficiency over the years so the governor can better tell if more staff produced better services. Greene called it a ``very impressive effort to show the state's taxpayers ... what they're getting for their tax dollars." Greene noted that Alabamians in September 2003 voted 68 percent to 32 percent against Riley's plan to raise state and local taxes by $1.2 billion a year. ``Riley tried to get money. He believed the state clearly needed more money to deliver more services more effectively," Greene said. But voters said no, he said, at least in part because they didn't believe state government knew what it was doing with the money it already had. SMART budgeting could change that view, Greene said. The Government Performance Project's report on Alabama says Riley decided to launch SMART budgeting after his tax plan's defeat, in the hope that state government some day could use its results ``to provide proof of its efficiency so that the result might be different in the future." The report said that while voters may have been ``shortsighted" in rejecting Riley's tax plan, ``their lack of faith may not be off base." The report quoted an unnamed ``highly placed observer" who said, ``We have a lack of capacity to make good decisions here. The Legislature just brokers between opposing interests. And nobody is paying attention to minding the store, because there isn't any institutional capacity to do that." The report noted that tight money has caused some state agencies to freeze hiring. It also said the state's roads and bridges ``are in alarming shape." The report cited estimates by the state Department of Transportation that Alabama has a highway and bridge maintenance backlog of more than $1 billion, with the total growing by about $50 million a year. ``The overall thing I'd take away from Alabama is, this is a state that has serious managerial problems, most seriously in infrastructure, that is trying to figure out ways to alleviate those problems," Greene said. Riley spokesman Jeff Emerson said, ``The state is finally moving in the right direction, and that's what this report shows." ``The problems that state government has weren't created overnight, and Gov. Riley is implementing the reforms that are moving us in a positive direction," Emerson said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiger88 934 Posted February 6, 2005 Share Posted February 6, 2005 Our state is run by some morons. You can be a moron and still figure that out. Riley screamed for massive and unprecedented tax increases or the state would have to do everything short of folding up altogether to stay w/in budget. We can now see that was a complete crock of crap and people just playing political games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auburn85 432 Posted February 6, 2005 Author Share Posted February 6, 2005 Our state is run by some morons. You can be a moron and still figure that out. Riley screamed for massive and unprecedented tax increases or the state would have to do everything short of folding up altogether to stay w/in budget. We can now see that was a complete crock of crap and people just playing political games. 144789[/snapback] Yep, because we were told Armagedon would be upon us if we didn't vote for this 1.2 billion increase. Now, $150 million surplus in education budget. Told budget deficit this year would be around 650 million. They were wrong again because the deficit is around $250 million Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BamaGrad03 0 Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 I think its hilarious that Riley and others cant possibly understand why we wouldnt want to vote for them to have a 1.2 billion dollar "emergency" fund to spend how they see fit. Riley sucks. I would vote for a Democrat for governor over Riley...thats for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigermike 3,039 Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarTim 3,456 Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 EASY "cure" for all of the state's problems.....Change the name of the state to "AUBURN" ! ! ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiger88 934 Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 I think its hilarious that Riley and others cant possibly understand why we wouldnt want to vote for them to have a 1.2 billion dollar "emergency" fund to spend how they see fit.Riley sucks. I would vote for a Democrat for governor over Riley...thats for sure. 144870[/snapback] I still say there's a big rat in there somewhere. It just seemed to me that riley didn't really want the thing to pass. If he did he is an idiot for thinking it might pass. I think they set it up to fail so they could make some smaller cuts w/o heavy criticism. I wonder how much monmey they wasted on the attempt to pass that crap. I work in a smaller town (10,000+-) and one day the caravan came through town and set up shop with refreshments and all and plenty of manpower. What a complete waste of our tax dollars. What's new? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auburn85 432 Posted February 8, 2005 Author Share Posted February 8, 2005 I think its hilarious that Riley and others cant possibly understand why we wouldnt want to vote for them to have a 1.2 billion dollar "emergency" fund to spend how they see fit.Riley sucks. I would vote for a Democrat for governor over Riley...thats for sure. 144870[/snapback] I still say there's a big rat in there somewhere. It just seemed to me that riley didn't really want the thing passes. If he did he is an idiot for thinking it might pass. I think they set it up to fail so they could make some smaller cuts w/o heavy criticism. I wonder how much monmey they wasted on the attempt to pass that crap. I work in a smaller town (10,000+-) and one day the caravan came through town and set up shop with refreshments and all and plenty of manpower. What a complete waste of our tax dollars. What's new? 145034[/snapback] I thought the same thing, but then I was called A Riley suck up. SO FAR, Riley has kept his word... No NEW TAXES I could be wrong, but e have the 9th highest number of State employees So I guess California, New York, and Texas are slightly ahead of us Oh, and does any one remember the whole Nancy Worley Expedition story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auburn85 432 Posted February 8, 2005 Author Share Posted February 8, 2005 Montgomery county was one of the few counties to vote for Amendment 1 Remember it was defeated like 67-33% Montgomery County was one of the few counties to vote for John Kerry Montgomery Advertiser endorsed Kerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auburn85 432 Posted February 24, 2005 Author Share Posted February 24, 2005 Any of you Alabama people hear we have a new state insect? It was the monarch butterfly, now it's the queen honey bee. My question is why is the legislature wasting time on crap like this? Also since the legislature has been in session, they banned the state whiskey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigermike 3,039 Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 Any of you Alabama people hear we have a new state insect?It was the monarch butterfly, now it's the queen honey bee. My question is why is the legislature wasting time on crap like this? Also since the legislature has been in session, they banned the state whiskey. 147992[/snapback] Because they can! They want people to believe they don't drink maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarolinaTiger 0 Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 you're joking about the monarch & honey bee, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigermike 3,039 Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 you're joking about the monarch & honey bee, right? 147999[/snapback] No he is not. it was reported in the B'ham News last week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarolinaTiger 0 Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 you're joking about the monarch & honey bee, right? 147999[/snapback] No he is not. it was reported in the B'ham News last week. 148004[/snapback] daggum fascists... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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