YOUR TURN: “Suppose You Had an Extra $1 Billion. We Do.” By Phil Noble

It’s true. We as a state have an extra $1 billion dollars more in state tax revenues than we thought we did just a few weeks ago, and it gets even better. This includes $519 million in recurring revenues — money we will get annually from now on…or until the economy tanks again.

The question is: What will we do with this money? Will we be smart or just revert to politics as usual?

Everyone in Columbia has their opinions as to what we should do. Gov. Haley says use it to pay some of the shortfall in the state’s pension fund and refund some of it to the taxpayers. The various state agencies and their friends in the legislature all have their long list of special projects and needs. They can all make a good case as we have lots of real needs and most  of the agencies have suffered from horrendous budget cuts.

But left to politics as usual, the money will simply get spent by the same old people in the same old ways, based on which group can best mobilize their lobbyists and friends to get what they want.

Let’s do something different this time. In fact, let’s start by doing something really radical: let’s ask the people.

The money is tax money and people should be asked what they want. There are various ways to get real and honest input from the voters, such as unbiased opinion polls, asking for people’s suggestions via special websites and new online tools, or holding town hall meetings around the state. The media would be happy to help in promoting the idea and taking feedback from the voters.

Politicians say they know what the people want, and cynics will say that this won’t work as all the special interest groups will just organize their folks to game the process. Maybe, but if Gov. Haley and the leadership in the legislature make a sincere and honest attempt to use some new ideas and new technology to ask the voters, people will honestly respond. My guess is that our so-called leaders will be surprised by the thoughtful and earnest responses of the people of our state.

We are not just a collection of special interest groups but a state with people who care about each other and our future.

Second, let’s agree to not just keep funding a failing system. Let’s fund success for a change. Government is broken, politics is corrupt, and the last thing that we should do is just pour more money into an already leaky bucket. Let’s fix the bucket.

Throughout this state there are lots of examples of things that are working well– public schools that are doing a good job in educating our children, job training that is teaching people new 21st century skills, community health projects that are both reducing costs and meeting people’s needs. We need to focus on replicating these successes and not simply funding something because it was a line item that was cut the last time around.

Finally, let’s make a meaningful commitment to funding the kind of innovation and technology that  will pay real dividends in the future. There are too many politicians in this state, of both parties, whose attitude seems to be ‘to hell with the future, let’s keep fighting about the past.’ Innovation is how we succeed long term and we should set aside a big portion of the $500 million in recurring revenues to fund some long-term projects that may take a few years to pay off but potentially have a big return of 10 or 20 to 1.

And, in the short term, the pay off is in technology. My company has been fortunate enough to do a bit of work over the years with Microsoft and other major tech companies in both in the US and globally, and the industry consensus is that simply installing the best current off-the-shelf technology in most government agencies would save anywhere from 15-20% of operating costs. This is not some pie-in-the-sky speculation but a hard projection based on countless examples from state governments across the country.

None of this is  earth-shaking stuff. It’s really just common sense. It only seems radical to those who have a stake in the failed status quo and refuse to move beyond simply playing politics as usual.

A billion dollars now and half a billion annually is a lot of money – a whole lot, in fact. The last thing we need to do is simply spend it in the same way that we have in the past and get the same result.

It’s our money and we should demand that it is spent smart, for a change.

Phil Noble is a businessman in Charleston and President of the SC New Democrats, an independent reform group started by former Gov. Richard Riley. Contact Mr. Noble at phil@SCNewDemocrats.org or www.SCNewDemocrats.org.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the author are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CRESCENT: The Magazine.

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