Foundation joins research, business, and taxpayer groups to deliver "Blueprint for an Effective Budget"

Guidelines on using Rainy Day Fund, improving performance measures, setting funding priorities, and increasing transparency will help legislators make responsible budget decisions

AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation joined several other research, business, and taxpayer groups at the Texas State Capitol today to deliver "Blueprint for an Effective Budget," an agreed-upon set of guidelines for the Legislature to draft an effective state budget.

"Our legislators will have difficult budget decisions to make over the next few months," said The Honorable Talmadge Heflin, Director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation's Center for Fiscal Policy. "If they follow these guidelines, they can maintain essential services for the citizens of Texas while positioning our state for a strong economic recovery."

Heflin called for the 81st Texas Legislature to preserve a balance of at least $4.5 billion in the state’s Rainy Day Fund, and to use it only for emergency tax relief or one-time expenditures.

"Yes, we are in a rainy day, but no one knows for sure how long this storm will last," Heflin said. "Texas families have the instinct to stretch their emergency savings as long as possible, and state government needs to show that same discipline."

Heflin also urged the legislature to proceed with caution regarding the pending federal stimulus legislation.

"While we expect there will be some money, it is not guaranteed and we do not know what forms it might take," Heflin said. "This money should be treated the same as our rainy day fund – for use on one-time expenditures."

The blueprint includes several guidelines on how to responsibly establish spending priorities.

"The mathematical task of closing a budget shortfall can be straight forward – just cut everything across the board," Heflin explained. "But writing an effective budget in these times requires that you separate needs from wants, and that you prioritize your spending based on what you're required to do – first by the Texas Constitution, then by state law – and by what produces the greatest value to the taxpayers."

Heflin said that it was important for the Texas Legislature to continue the state's movement toward complete financial transparency.

"Through websites like the Comptroller's Where The Money Goes and our own TexasBudgetSource.com, we’re engaging all Texans in the effort to ferret out waste and fraud in government spending," Heflin said. "We need to ensure that all budgets, expenditures, contracts, and other relevant financial information are published online in a searchable and user-friendly format."

The nine guidelines in the "Blueprint for an Effective Budget" are:

• Limit the growth of state spending to no more than the sum of population growth plus inflation, or the growth in personal income, whichever is less.
• Prioritize state spending on the basis of constitutional mandates, followed by statutory requirements.
• Return excess fee and tax revenues to those who paid them.
• Limit the use of the Rainy Day Fund to either emergency tax relief or one-time emergency spending items.
• Maintain a Rainy Day Fund balance of at least 5 percent of the general revenue and general revenue-dedicated funds spent in the 2010-11 budget.
• Make it easy to identify and report government fraud and waste by posting all budgets, expenditures, contracts, and other relevant financial information online in a searchable and user-friendly format.
• Structure state agencies' performance measures to reflect outcomes rather than outputs.
• Fund only those programs that return a greater value to the taxpayer than the program's cost.
• Avoid duplication of services by focusing on programs that are not provided by local governments or the private sector.

"Blueprint for an Effective Budget" and the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s research on state tax and budget issues can be on the Foundation's primary website, http://www.TexasPolicy.com, and on its government spending transparency website, http://www.TexasBudgetSource.com.

The Honorable Talmadge Heflin is Director of the Center for Fiscal Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin. Heflin served 11 terms in the Texas House of Representatives and chaired the House Appropriations Committee in 2003, leading the Texas Legislature's successful efforts to close a $10 billion budget deficit without a tax increase.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan, free-market research institute based in Austin. More information can be found on the Foundation's primary website, www.TexasPolicy.com, or its government spending transparency website, www.TexasBudgetSource.com.

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Statement on Comptroller Susan Combs’ Transparency Initiatives

Statement by The Honorable Talmadge Heflin, Director of the Center for Fiscal Policy

“Almost 53 percent of spending by Texas governments is done at the local level. Unfortunately, detailed information on that local spending is virtually inaccessible to taxpayers, who are the true local control.

“As our new report Texas Transparency: Then and Now published earlier this week shows, Texas’ experience with spending transparency undercuts all the excuses not to provide detailed expenditure information to the public. The technology is available, powerful, and inexpensive. The state’s savings were many times the startup costs, and hundreds of local school districts have seen value in embracing spending transparency.

“Texas has set the national standard in spending transparency thanks largely to Comptroller Susan Combs’ leadership. Today’s debut of the Texas Transparency Check-Up website affirms her commitment to open government.

“Texas already has open records and open meetings. The next step toward transparent and accountable government is open checkbooks, and the 81st Texas Legislature should make that the standard for local governments as it already is for the state. Taxpayers deserve to know how all levels of government are spending their money.”

The Honorable Talmadge Heflin is Director of the Center for Fiscal Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin. Heflin served 11 terms in the Texas House of Representatives and chaired the House Appropriations Committee in 2003, leading the Texas Legislature’s successful efforts to close a $10 billion budget deficit without a tax increase.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin. More information can be found on the Foundation’s primary website, www.TexasPolicy.com, or its government spending transparency website, www.TexasBudgetSource.com.

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TPPF RELEASE: Foundation applauds Collin County Financial Transparency Project

Foundation applauds Collin County Financial Transparency Project
Collin is first county in U.S. to post its actual expenditures online

AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation congratulates Collin County Judge Keith Self and his colleagues on the commissioners court for their successful launch last Friday of the Collin County Financial Transparency Project.

“While many cities and counties have their adopted budgets online, it’s refreshing to see Collin County take the initiative to become the first county in America to open its financial data to the taxpayers,” said Talmadge Heflin, Director of the Foundation’s Center for Fiscal Policy. “By creating this level of transparency, Collin County is forging a true partnership with its citizens.”

The Collin County Financial Transparency Project includes a listing of checks written by county government for all of its operations since October 2007, the beginning of the current fiscal year. Checks that involve protected privacy information about employees or private citizens receiving county services will be excluded from the register.

The project also includes the county’s financial trends for the last five fiscal years; graphs of year-to-date total revenues, tax revenues, cash, and investments for county operations; a newsletter highlighting county government financial operations and projects; and monthly utility costs and consumption for county facilities.

"This adds an important, new dimension to open government for our citizens," Self said. "Providing our taxpayers with up-to-date, easily understandable information not only brings accountability, but goes a long way to ensuring public trust in how we spend their tax dollars for local services."

“Collin County has shown the path forward to more accessible and accountable county government,” Heflin continued. “We call on the other 253 Texas counties to follow their lead and open their own financial books to the public.”

The Texas Public Policy Foundation has been a champion of spending transparency at all levels of government. Its research provided the impetus for last year’s House Bill 3430, which created the Comptroller’s “Where the Money Goes” website. The Foundation has encouraged Texas school districts to post their check registers online, and worked closely with Collin County’s leadership as they developed their initiative.

Links to the Collin County Financial Transparency Project have been added to the Collin County page on TexasBudgetSource.com, a website the Foundation launched last month as the comprehensive resource for information on state and local government budgets and spending.

About the Texas Public Policy Foundation: TPPF is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin, Texas.

About Talmadge Heflin: Mr. Heflin is the Director of the Center for Fiscal Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. He served 11 terms in the Texas House of Representatives, and is a former Chairman of the Texas House Appropriations Committee.

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Foundation launches TexasBudgetSource.com

AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation debuted TexasBudgetSource.com today, a new website that will provide a comprehensive resource for information on state and local government budgets and spending.

“Texas has been a leader in the movement to increase transparency of state and local government spending,” said Foundation president Brooke Rollins. “Citizens become better informed voters when they can see how their tax dollars are being spent. Spending transparency also puts governments on notice that they can no longer get away with spending tax dollars in wasteful, duplicative, or self-serving ways.”

TexasBudgetSource.com features the following information:

* Original research and analysis on the Texas state budget produced by the Texas Public Policy Foundation;
* A “spend-o-meter” that keeps a running tab on how much Texas state government has spending during the current budget cycle;
* Links to the “Where The Money Goes Website” on state agency expenditures, as administered by Comptroller Susan Combs;
* Links to the online budget information (where available) of all 254 Texas counties and Texas’ 25 largest cities;
* Links to the online check registers of more than 150 Texas independent school districts;
* “Fast Facts” about Texas government spending;
* A glossary of key budget-related terms to help the public’s understanding of budget documents; and
* Videos featuring Combs, Rep. Mark Strama, Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist, and others talking about the importance of transparency in government spending.

“Instead of having to walk into dozens of different government buildings or painstakingly search all over the Internet to find how tax dollars are being spent, you can simply go to TexasBudgetSource.com,” said Talmadge Heflin, Director of the Foundation’s Center for Fiscal Policy and a former chairman of the Texas House Appropriations Committee.

“Transparency forces government to be smarter about how it spends the taxpayers’ money,” Combs said in one of the videos to be featured on the site. “It creates a culture of transparency that guards against waste.”

“The Texas Public Policy Foundation has been a longtime champion of transparency in government spending,” Rollins said. “Not only have we shown the possibilities through the legislation that passed last year, but TexasBudgetSource.com provides a template that other states can follow to make government spending more accessible to taxpayers.”

The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin, Texas.

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