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| B- | Idaho |
• Population (rank): 1,466,465 (39)
• Average per capita income (rank): $21,000 (44)
• Total state spending (rank): $6,352,876,000 (44)
• Spending per capita (rank): $4,332 (41)
• Governor: C.L. "Butch" Otter (R)
• First elected: 11/2006
• Senate: 35 members: 7 D, 28 R
• Term limits: None
• House: 70 members: 19 D, 51 R
• Term limits: None
Government has always been a rather informal affair in Idaho. With little political strife, the overwhelmingly Republican legislature meets for a couple of months each year, quickly passes the necessary appropriations bills with minimal public input and heads back home. Indeed, passing a budget on time seems like an Idaho religion, on par with efficiency and conservative fiscal policy. "There is a tradition in Idaho that legislative sessions that last longer than 90 days are not a good thing," says David Fulkerson, the state financial officer.
In that political atmosphere, it's been difficult for long-range planning to take root and thrive. But state officials are beginning to revamp their planning process and put programs to more analysis and review. It couldn't come at a better time. In recent years, Idaho has witnessed a remarkable economic and population boom. Highways, suburban housing tracts and golf resorts have spread across the landscape. All this change means the state may not be able to afford its traditionally informal style of management.
"In the last four years, we've made a big effort to do our business differently," says Rakesh Mohan, the director of the legislature's performance evaluation unit. Prior to 2005, state agencies had produced strategic plans and attempted to generate performance measures that would show their progress. But legislators found these measures confusing and unreliable. Even the agencies wouldn't fully vouch for their validity — many accompanied their figures with a disclaimer that they might not be fully accurate. Now, agencies are allowed to present a smaller number of measures that are more relevant to their day-to-day work and are required to certify the numbers.
The quest for efficiency has had some unintended consequences. For example, the governor decentralized human resources management, which used to be run out of a single department, giving more power to the various line agencies. But that took away some of the staff that had been trying to create statewide workforce planning, a much-needed effort since the state's workforce is growing and experiencing higher rates of turnover.
Managing its money is something Idaho generally does well. The state has one of the lowest debt levels in the country, and the public employee pension system is fully funded. Several years ago, after the early-decade recession ended, the legislature rescinded a 1.5 percent sales tax increase that had helped sustain state government during hard times. But in 2006, the governor and legislature decided to bump the sales tax back up again, by 1 percent, and reduce the amount of property taxes that go toward paying for schools.
Idaho's biggest looming managerial problem may be coping with its success at attracting new citizens. The population has grown from slightly more than 1 million in 1990 to almost 1.5 million today. There are strong pressures for road construction, and the legislature is pushing in that direction but at the cost of neglecting maintenance. With all the new construction, what the state really needs is a more modern asset management system to track unglamorous maintenance problems such as potholes. "What we're looking at is at least a $5 million investment in a new system," says Julie Pipal, the deputy director of transportation, "but the pressure is on to put every available dollar to new roads. The public doesn't want to pay more."
No citizenry is in love with paying more for public services, but in Idaho that tendency has probably been exacerbated over the years by the short legislative sessions in which public participation is perfunctory. Recently, the government has taken steps to address the problem with more targeted outreach and public meetings. When a key road that connects several major highways in a new resort area became a traffic nightmare, hearings were convened and audience members had suggestions on everything from landscaping to the placement of stoplights. The result, transportation managers believe, will be a citizen-inspired road reconstruction that will finally unsnarl the bottleneck.
Note: This version has been updated to correct an error in the print version regarding the use of property taxes to pay for schools.
For additional data and analysis, go to pewcenteronthestates.org/gpp.