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| B- | Pennsylvania |
• Population (rank): 12,440,621 (6)
• Average per capita income (rank): $24,694 (21)
• Total state spending (rank): $64,917,023,000 (6)
• Spending per capita (rank): $5,218 (27)
• Governor: Edward G. Rendell (D)
• First elected: 11/2002
• Senate: 50 members: 21 D, 29 R
• Term limits: None
• House: 203 members: 102 D, 101 R
• Term limits: None
Pennsylvania river crossings have been noteworthy since George Washington made his way across the Delaware in 1775. The first President may have been lucky he didn't have to cross a bridge. The Commonwealth's state-owned bridges are in alarmingly bad shape. Last year, the Department of Transportation declared nearly 6,000 of them to be "in critical need of immediate repair" — more such deterioration than in any other state. All told, the bill for fixing this problem of deferred maintenance is estimated at $11 billion.
It's not that PennDOT hasn't been trying. Actually, it has sought to make bridge maintenance a priority for some time. More than four-fifths of the annual transportation budget goes toward maintenance, and the state more than doubled its funding for bridge repairs between 2002 and 2006. But that hasn't been nearly enough. The state needs alternate funding sources to underwrite necessary transportation improvements, which include another $3 billion in backlogged road repairs.
For a while last year, it appeared that the solution was going to be a deal to raise money by leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike to private investors. Instead, the state settled on a partnership between the DOT and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. The agreement, which will increase tolls on the Turnpike and initiate them on another major state highway, will help bankroll improvements not only to roads and bridges but also to the state's perennially strapped mass transit system.
Unfortunately, Pennsylvania hasn't exhibited a similar tenacity when it comes to the rest of its assets. But it's starting to move in that direction. The Department of General Services has spent the past year conducting condition assessments of state buildings and developing a complementary computer system. More than just a condition-assessment database, it tracks the cost of work done to each building, including labor and materials costs. The robust system should help the department write 20-year life-cycle plans for each building.
Information about many of the state's programs tends to be plentiful and of relatively high quality. The budget office, which is committed to easily verified measures of work done in state agencies, has moved them toward more complex and more useful information that concentrates on the way that work influences real results. The budget office is kept informed through quarterly performance reports, and the state rolled the data into its first statewide performance report, which it published in January. Additionally, several independent offices produce strong performance audits and evaluations.
The availability of information doesn't always lead to its use, though. Legislators don't regularly apply the performance data to their budget deliberations, for example. What's more, budget debates can be lengthy, heated and — worst of all — unproductive. Last year, a stalemate between the governor and the legislature led to a brief government shutdown.
Labor contracts negotiated in 2003 and 2007 included changes to retiree benefits. Eager to hold on to the provisions in prior contracts, thousands of retirement-eligible workers put in their papers. James Honchar, deputy secretary for human resources, estimates that the state lost about 10,000 employees in the two rounds of departures. Some of the retirees cleared out with little notice or preparation. "We had individuals who walked out the door with 30 to 35 years of institutional knowledge," Honchar says.
The fact that mass retirements hit the state twice in one decade increases the importance of efforts by the central human resources office to encourage agencies to develop succession plans and ways to transfer knowledge among employees.
Those efforts could be bolstered by more training opportunities. Pennsylvania spends less per employee on training than it did three years ago, and leadership development is limited to its Women in Government Institute. Human resources officials say they're considering a statewide leadership academy — a good idea, because male employees would likely welcome development, too.
For additional data and analysis, go to pewcenteronthestates.org/gpp.