Governor Chet Culver used a speech before the Iowa Taxpayers Association to unveil 90 cost-saving recommendations proposed by consultant Public Works of Philadelphia that he said have the potential to save $341 million in the first year, and nearly $1.7 billion in the next five years.
Many of the proposals call for consolidation. They include consolidating the state's 223 data centers, 23 e-mail systems, and $2 million in wireless-equipment contracts now purchased from seven vendors. They also call for consolidating mailrooms, Department of Natural Resources offices in Des Moines, and administrative functions at Department of Human Services institutions.
The report also calls for reducing the state's car fleet, consolidating property management, and selling surplus properties, including 5 to 10 percent of the 8,000 acres of state-owned prison farms that are no longer mission-critical.
And it calls for reducing human-resource staff in departments, using state master contracts for commonly purchased goods, negotiating Medicaid durable-medical-equipment prices, increasing efforts to collect debt, and making it easier to collect unpaid taxes.