Sharp outlines $1.2 billion in savings

By MICHAEL HOLMES / Associated Press

AUSTIN - Eliminating state government jobs, making certain college professors teach full loads and renewing drivers' licenses every 12 years are among ideas proposed Wednesday to help Texas save $1.2 billion over the next two years.

Those are among 428 penny-pinching proposals Comptroller John Sharp will make to the 1997 Legislature as lawmakers look for cash to fund government and, perhaps, fulfill Gov. George W. Bush's wish of providing property tax relief to homeowners and businesses.

The cost-cutting recommendations follow the fourth top-to-bottom audit of the state bureaucracy since 1991.

Sharp said the Legislature has enacted enough proposals from the three previous audits to save $8 billion in six years.

"There are always incredibly strange things that government does that can be fixed," Sharp said.

If all recommendations are enacted by the Legislature, Sharp said savings would total $3.5 billion over the next five years.

The savings are being proposed at the same time the governor is pushing to provide relief from the $10 billion a year levied in local school property taxes. Property taxes make up the bulk of funding for public schools in Texas.

Last month, Bush proposed easing property taxes by $1 billion, to be paid for by lower state spending and higher-than-expected government income.

Sharp said Wednesday that the state treasury is on course to wind up with a cash balance of about $1.4 billion.

Add to that the $1.2 billion in savings proposed by the audit plus expected revenue growth over the next two years, and providing at least some property tax relief might be easier.

Enacting his savings proposals, Sharp said, "makes it an awfully lot less painful" for lawmakers to approve some measure of property tax relief.

Bush, a Republican, said he welcomed Democrat Sharp's money-saving ideas and predicted lawmakers would give them close scrutiny.

"I look forward to working with the Legislature as it develops a balanced budget that funds our priorities while offering the taxpayers significant relief," Bush said.

The audit called for eliminating a total of 8,320 of the 261,000 state jobs.

Sharp said the 1,720 layoffs could be accomplished through early retirement incentives, attrition and other measures. The 6,600 empty job slots should be abolished, he said.

Many state agencies use the ghost workers to give them more budget flexibility, Sharp said, allowing them to shift money into other programs. He said the number of ghost workers had risen 55 percent since 1988.

"State government already costs Texans enough, without phantom bureaucrats adding to the tab," he said, estimating those savings at $470 million.

Sharp said modern computer technology allows issuing a lifetime driver's license, with free-of-charge renewals every 12 years, that would save money for Texas motorists and government and not jeopardize public safety.

The audit proposed a one-time fee of $85 for drivers aged 18-24, and slightly less for older motorists, to obtain their license.

Over the years, motorists who remained in Texas would save money over the $16 fee now charged for renewal every four years. For example, it said, an 18-year-old paying the $85 fee would be covered for 42 years, compared with the $176 he wold pay under the current system.