Kevin Kennedy, Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (PHOTO: Jackie Johnson)
The head of the state Government Accountability Board is asking lawmakers to remove several changes to the agency that are included in the governor’s budget plan.
Among the requests made in a letter to the Joint Finance Committee this week, GAB director Kevin Kennedy asked the panel to drop plans to include the elections agency in a pilot program that would outsource administrative staff. Kennedy believes including the GAB in the “Shared Agency Services Pilot program” would create an extra layer of bureaucracy, while removing staff who currently fill other roles besides the agency’s financial operations. Kennedy said “those people are not full time finance, they also help us with our Contract Sunshine program, our records management, our grants management.”
A spokesman with the Department of Administration said “The shared services pilot program will make government more efficient, effective and provide a better value service for taxpayers. Specifically, the shared agency services pilot program will consolidate back office functions such as budget, finance, human resources, payroll, procurement, and information technology of certain agencies.”
Kennedy is also asking lawmakers to reverse changes to the agency’s information technology staff, which would move several IT assets over to the Department of Administration. He cited problems with past projects at the DOA that have been “off budget and off time” as a cause for concern, especially as the GAB works to make changes to the Statewide Voter Registration System.
Kennedy also notes that most state IT work is contracted out now, and having to work with outside staff through the DOA adds “another layer of bureaucracy” to the process.
Lawmakers will begin considering changes to the governor’s budget proposal later this spring.