(Editorial - Graphic Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced this week that more than $168 million in savings had been found after audits of executive branch services. And, on the surface, he was right to be impressed with what BDO USA found.

Potential savings will bring up plenty of questions for the Office of Technology to answer, as recommendations included saving $865,000 by shutting down an unnecessary data center, saving $456,000 per year by canceling third-party data storage contracts (one has to wonder who will be in charge of making sure the state does not lose access to any vital data), and saving $700,000 per year by canceling outdated software contracts.

Those changes alone beg the question, can all of that be canceled or eliminated without the bureaucracy claiming it needs to spend money to replace it?

Other questions include: How do we reconcile suggesting that $45,000 can be saved by asking boards and commissions to switch from in-person meetings to virtual meetings? (Weren’t we supposed to be getting RID of some of these boards and commissions, first?) And, if the National Guard cancels a private mowing contract for its headquarters, won’t they have to pay for the personnel, equipment and fuel to keep the grounds tidy on their own?

That is not to say there isn’t fraud, waste and abuse in state government. There is still a LOT of it — and King Bureaucracy continues to serve its own interests. But a nice round figure like $168 million looks a lot prettier than the reality once the costs and consequences of all that change are understood.

“One thing that came through in the Human Services audit and throughout these audits is there needed to be tighter controls, especially on the finances,” Morrisey said. “We’re implementing them. That’s important because you don’t want to have resources fly out the door. This is taxpayer money, and we need to protect it very aggressively.”

Indeed.

But if Morrisey is determined to “keep going” with this process he will also have to aggressively monitor whether change actually takes place (an announcement of potential savings is quite different from implementation), and be wary of change that looks like a savings but ends up being a greater cost in the long run.

“We are repurposing government,” Morrisey said.

If that is the case, it is vital that Morrisey, other elected officials and King Bureaucracy remember their purpose is to be prudent stewards of taxpayer dollars while serving the rest of us.