Zero-Based Budgeting Would Save Billions
By Sen. Scott Wagner
At the end of this month I will have been in the Pennsylvania State Senate for 28 months.
I see first hand the opportunities to get Pennsylvania back on the financial track that it needs to be on.
While everyone continues to believe the outstanding Pennsylvania pension obligations for state employees and public school system employees is $60-70 billion, with recent market fluctuations and other world events (i.e. Brexit), I believe the pension obligation is creeping closer to $100 billion.
Pennsylvania has an obligation to fulfill all of the pension commitments that were made.
What Pennsylvania needs is a strong leader who understands cutting edge business practices.
The first step is to have the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania move to zero-based budgeting.
A quick back-of-the-napkin estimate shows me that savings could be between $1.5 -6 billion just in the first year alone after switching to zero-based budgeting.
Our “code red” financial situation is not a Democrat problem or a Republican problem – it is everyone’s problem who lives in Pennsylvania.
I have at least a dozen ideas that would yield sizable efficiency savings in Pennsylvania state government.
I lay awake at night thinking about all the opportunities here in Pennsylvania that we are missing out on.
We have an opportunity to make Pennsylvania a powerhouse but we are squandering it away each and every day because of lack of inaction.
Sen. Wagner represents the 28th District in the Pennsylvania Senate.