SiouxLand

A recent news release from the Wisconsin Department of Justice illustrates something positive and what’s so wrong with the mentality that government applies to budgets.

Here’s the release:

Two Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) employees were recently recognized by the Wisconsin Employee Suggestion Program for their work in identifying a more cost effective manner to print a DOJ publication used extensively by local law enforcement.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice had revised their Physical Evidence Handbook which is utilized by local law enforcement officers throughout the state. Kim Vonnahme, a senior forensic scientist at the State Crime Lab in Wausau and Laura Hood, an administrative & program support assistant at the State Crime Lab in Wausau evaluated the printing options, and discovered that the printing option through the State Contract was substantially higher than was available through other printers.

Kim and Laura proceeded to obtain the necessary quotes and approval from the Department of Administration to use other than the contract vendor. By doing so, they saved the Department of Justice $5,810 in printing costs and also saved local law enforcement agencies $2.50/copy for each handbook that will be purchased.

“I want to recognize and thank Kim and Laura for their dedication, hard work and their focus on improving the quality of state government operations,” said Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen. “Kim and Laura are dedicated professionals who are committed to public service and who care deeply about the work of the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

I join J.B. in saluting the two state employees for having the common sense to save taxpayer dollars. But I hope it wouldn’t take this much detective work to apply this reasoning to all parts of the state budget.

Who bid the state contract in the first place? If there was savings in this bid, should others be examined? Does the entire state bid process bear closer scrutiny? Just how much are we paying for official state paper clips?

If the DOJ can save $5,810 in printing costs, there’s got to be plenty of other savings in the myriad of madness that is called Madison.