Issue Position: Fiscal Responsibility

Issue Position

The state government has shown a lack of fiscal responsibility and accountability.

One glaring short-coming that the Commonwealth needs to address immediately is restructuring the state Pension system. It is unsustainable; with a $30 billion debt, the retirement systems are grossly underfunded. This will not be an easy fix to a complex problem as it will take a long-range solution but action needs to be taken now. There have been several ideas and concepts debated but a formal plan needs to be drafted and implement expeditiously.

With my insights of working with states and the federal government as well as my knowledge in being a past president of a national association, streamlining government operations is vital and Kentucky has fallen short.

We need to take an inventory of our services and ask questions like how much it costs to deliver the service, are there other services outside of government that offer similar services for equal or higher quality of delivering the service, and is it a vital function to government.

This type of approach will lend itself to streamlining government operations, discovering cost saving measures for taxpayer savings, and increase transparency.

Likewise, we should take an inventory of government regulations to determine if this is inhibiting business growth and attraction, and if it causes Kentuckians to go through unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles. This innovative approach will get the government to rethink how much it is prohibiting individuals and businesses grow.

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