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September 8, 2005

Dear Fellow Vermonters:

In late 2003, Governor Douglas appointed seven private citizens to undertake an independent review of how well we are operating the largest organization in Vermont - Vermont State Government.

As concerned taxpayers, we answered Governor Douglas’ challenge to provide him with recommendations on how to spend your precious dollars wisely and effectively. The Vermont Institute on Government Effectiveness was created to provide independent findings and support to improve government’s effectiveness for the benefit of all Vermonters.”

After nearly two years, our project plan is done. These results are summarized in the body of this report, and contain 20 separate recommendations that when implemented deliver Vermont taxpayers between $20 and $30 million every year in savings! If adopted, we believe these proposals create a historic opportunity to transform state government.

These recommendations are important considering that today your state government is Vermont’s largest employer with nearly 9,800 fulltime and temporary workers. State government is a very complex organization with 62 principal business units with annual expenditures of state and federal money of over $3.6 billion. Every unnecessary dollar spent by state government is a dollar that Vermonters can keep in their wallets and pocketbooks.

The Vermont Institute did not do its work in a vacuum. We aggressively listened to the people who work hard on the front lines to serve their fellow Vermonters, whether it be those folks who keep our roads plowed, provide senior citizens and children with medical and social benefits, or those very skilled managers who lead state agencies. We also reached out and talked with Vermonters who have had prior experience in state government and now are successful in other careers. In almost every instance these conversations provided key insights and actionable opportunities for improving Vermont State Government. In fact, you will be pleased to learn that most Vermont state employees want to do their jobs more effectively and in a way that saves money. Therefore, many of the recommendations presented here came from the state workers themselves.

Our hope is that this report provides citizens, Legislators, state employees and the Douglas Administration with the roadmap to achieve these changes that will provide more efficient government service by better use of information technology. We are recommending nothing less than a total transformation of how state government works. We will do it by giving new technologies and new tools to empower state employees to serve Vermont citizens.

We have found ways to finance this effort by making strategic decisions on how to make efficient use of the upcoming retirement bubble in the state workforce, when 26 percent will be retirement eligible in five years, and 43 percent in ten years. In short we can do this once in a generation transformation without out-sourcing work or imposing across-the-board reductions in the state workforce.

We hope you will find the time to review this roadmap. We hope you will join us in traveling down this new road of opportunity to better serve Vermonters. That, after all, is what good government is all about.


Sincerely Yours,

Vermont Institute on Government Effectiveness, Inc.

Attached files:

VIGE Final Report [Summary of Change Recommendations] [881.15KB]