That's the question author David Osborne posed to NASCIO (National Association of State CIOs) during his keynote address at the organization's annual conference on Monday in New Orleans.
Osborne, who wrote the best-seller, Reinventing Government and more recently, The Price of Government, pointed out that, historically, Americans are willing to spend between 35 and 37 cents of every dollar on government, but a graying population, rising healthcare costs and growing resistance to new taxes has put a squeeze on how that money is spent.
"Government is competing with other interests, so its ability to get more funding is very limited," he said. The result is a process that inflicts short-term cost cuts across the board that end up hurting all services.
What's needed is a new strategy, according to Osborne, where government budgets are based on outcomes that are program driven, not by line items on a fiscal balance sheet. And information technology, led by state CIOs, can support outcome budgeting, he added. "Outcome budgets create a real market for IT to cut costs," Osborne explained. He suggested that CIOs consider consolidating how IT policy is set throughout government, while keeping the operational side of IT decentralized.
Whether or not outcome-based budgeting takes hold is still unclear, although Osborne mention at least two states are using the approach as are several local governments. But if the current system doesn't change, governments risks losing the trust of its citizens, warned Osborne. "We have to get government to do a better job of delivering services effectively before people are going to trust government again."
NASCIO's conference, which has more than 400 attendees, including CIOs from 33 states, continues until Wednesday.
