Downsizing the government entities

To the Editor:

While our leaders access the state of our economy and the enormity of our U.S. debt, it’s clearly the right time to reduce the size of our federal government.

During President Obama’s State of the Union message, he stated a need for consolidation of several agencies to reduce the cost of government. He’s right! The size of government is obvious to those who visit our nation’s capital.

Throughout the city, the numbers of large multi-story buildings bring questions needing answers: “What in the world do all those government employees do for our taxpayers?” “Did the founding fathers really expect to have the central government do so much to “help” the states govern their people?”

During the recent economic downturn, U.S. businesses acted on the need to downsize and become more efficient to stay competitive. Now is the time for federal, state and local governments to downsize.

Our political leaders must realize that ‘government functions’ should be managed like a business. The layoff or retirement of tens of thousands of government employees could infuse large numbers of educated, motivated, individuals into our national human resource backlog. The motivated former government employees could be set free to become our next inspired group of entrepreneurs to stimulate the economy.

In River Valley, proposals to consolidate service organizations (public works, fire safety, law enforcement) have been routinely dismissed by the local town governments since 2004. It’s time for our local town officials to sit together with a few trusted residents to develop the necessary steps to lower the cost and improve the services.

Everything should be on the table (charter changes, layoffs, retirements, out-sourcing, union contracts, etc). Our River Valley residents deserve a professional approach to balance service cost, tax burden, employee concerns, etc. We need an analytical approach, which provides clear strategies and choices for the local voters.

Several states are taking the necessary steps to reduce spending to spur economic development. The federal and local governments should show they are serious about governing in a partnership with the states.

Len Greaney,

Rumford Center