An Opportunity In Disguise

By most accounts, the past Legislature failed to develop a budget that is likely to balance over the next two years. While the Constitution assigns passage of the budget to the legislative branch, legislators have a habit of promoting a combination of worthwhile programs and pet projects. These keep adding up. They seldom are balanced by budget cutting (or tax increases) required in lean times. In this instance, the state government is said to have a projected tax shortfall of about $100 million.

Such a crisis is part problem and part opportunity, thus, a moment of opportunity has arrived for our new governor. Where legislators represent diverse districts and look at parts of the picture, the governor represents all of Hawaii and looks at the whole picture. In my experience, only the chief executive can balance the budget in difficult times. No one else has balanced the budget; she must do it herself.

Program by program, she can decide whether the real expenditure of funds should be at 100 percent of appropriation, 95 percent, 90 percent, or points in between. She can work directly with the many affected community groups and agencies and involve them in decisions. Conditions are right for her to ask, "What is government doing versus what should it be doing?"

Selective trimming is a creative (if demanding) alternative to across-the-board cuts, which, for practical purposes, maintain the status quo. While the governor will often have to say no at close range to the public, a sense of fairness and principle will help carry the day. She will be criticized, but that is the price of leadership.

The governor will also have an opportunity to engage the public worker unions in a dialogue. If the governor quietly asks the unions for help, she will get it. The unions have their self-interest in getting the state back on its feet financially. They need to be told, "This is our situation. Let's work together." In the process, it is important that the government work force maintain a sense of optimism and confidence. Otherwise, government employees will clutch up and defer spending, which would be a drag on the local economy.

Because the governor will be asking government employees to do more with less, it will be a good time for her to get out and say thank you. Like any complex undertaking, government is made up of layers of expertise. The real expert about a given job is most likely the person who does the work. If he or she is appreciated, rather than made the scapegoat, his or her contribution to the public good will be maximized.

All of these efforts together can ignite a public dialogue about our goals as a people. Society changes quickly, but government changes slowly or not at all. When government shifts priorities to society's most pressing needs, the changes can make a better world and also save money. For example, if government follows through on the concern over rampant use of crystal meth, it might spend a little more on drug treatment, but end up spending significantly less on imprisonment, public health and child welfare.

A $100 million sounds like a lot of money, and it is. What's more, it is part of the big picture in which the fiscal health of the states is deteriorating around the country. But in today's budgets, computed in billions of dollars, saving a hundred million is manageable. If treated as an opportunity rather than an intractable crisis, all of the communities of Hawaii can benefit from the results.

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