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From Governing’s Oklahoma
It can’t be a lot of fun trying to run Oklahoma, even if you happen to be governor, as Brad Henry currently is. In a state where past legislatures have been able to run over the chief executive, the Henry administration has done well to keep dialogue open, but the state’s deeply decentralized agency structure can provide its own obstacles to government management. Last fall, the governor had to intervene in a public dispute between the Office of Juvenile Affairs and the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth. And when a performance audit in November highlighted waste and inefficiency in the use of state-owned vehicles, one agency director blamed decentralization for the lax oversight. Problems such as those can stymie good efforts in planning and management. And even when agencies and the state are aligned on their priorities, there’s often simply not enough money in the budget to accomplish what’s needed. 
Departmental stubbornness has complicated planning in information technology, for example. For more than a decade, every agency has been required to submit annually a three-year information technology plan. “The intent is to make sure the state has consistency, interoperability, and that the agencies aren’t going in different directions,” says Joe Fleckinger, director of Oklahoma’s Information Services Division. But, he says, “agencies can operate very independently, so there’s not very good consistency.” On another planning front, the state’s Long-Range Capital Planning Commission drafts a strong capital improvement plan and augments the package by sending specific reports to the legislature for each agency. But limited funds over the past few years have prevented the legislature from paying much attention to the commission’s recommendations. As a result, some maintenance needs have gone unmet. Moreover, on the transportation side, Oklahoma is desperate for money to spend on keeping its roads and bridges in better repair. “We fall down greatly on maintenance of the system,” says Transportation Director Gary Ridley. But Ridley’s quest for a heightened focus on maintenance is dependent on getting legislative buy-in. And that just hasn’t happened yet.
Insofar as the state’s budget office and other fiscal managers can actually control things, Oklahoma’s financial processes are pretty good. Cash handling and risk management are solid, and the state has toughened up the rules for breaking into its rainy-day fund. There is a very strong ethos of on-time budgets and well-wrought financial statements. The one major weakness is in unfunded pension liabilities. These are in the $5 billion range, and the state has done little to whittle that number down. There’s good news to report in human resources. Historically weak HR technology systems have gotten the attention they need, and the state is in its second year of implementing personnel management software. The main personnel office has been given statutory responsibility to help produce agency workforce plans, and it is optimistic about receiving the resources to develop a statewide plan. There are other reasons to be hopeful. Officials in the State Auditor and Inspector’s Office believe that last year, for the first time, the legislature began paying some attention to the performance measures it received. That could be a harbinger of progress in other areas. The state’s finance office has been trying to promote a strategic planning process in the agencies and says they are gradually getting the idea. But even if the legislature starts focusing on performance, money for data-based management efforts is in short supply. The Auditor’s Office, for example, after years of failing to produce performance audits, has created a new performance audit division. Unfortunately, the office has dedicated only five staffers to the effort so far. Without budget increases from the legislature, the office has funded those positions by shifting monies internally.
Copyright © 2005, Congressional Quarterly, Inc. Reproduction in any form without the written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Governing, City & State and Governing.com are registered trademarks of Congressional Quarterly, Inc. |
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