If she comes up with the real deficit number, FL, I bet it will really curl your toes! establishing a definitive number for the state deficit and listing all the borrowing, diversions, and tricks upon which the current budget rests
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California Insider
A Weblog by
Sacramento Bee Columnist Daniel Weintraub
October 09, 2003
First thing: open the books
Arnold Schwarzenegger has chosen Donna Arduin, the director of Florida’s Department of Finance, to conduct the independent audit of California’s books he promised during the recall campaign. Arduin, a Duke University graduate who has also worked for the state of New York and Michigan and as an analyst for Morgan Stanley & Co., is taking leave from the Florida administration of Gov. Jeb Bush and donating her time to do the Schwarzenegger audit, according to transition spokesman Rob Stutzman.
While the scope of the audit isn’t yet clear, Arduin said she intends to complete it in time for Schwarzenegger to include her recommendations in his first budget, which must go to the Legislature by Jan. 10.
Don’t look for this to be the top-to-bottom examination of potential waste and fraud in state government. That will come later. Arduin, at least in the first pass, will probably limit herself to establishing a definitive number for the state deficit and listing all the borrowing, diversions, and tricks upon which the current budget rests. Look for her also to perhaps recommend a few structural reforms, including the spending cap Schwarzenegger wants, and possibly a way to restructure the state’s debt.
According to the transition team press release, Arduin in Florida has implemented a system where agencies and departments annually map out the cost and demand for each service they provide, with five-year forecasts for each. She favors performance-based budgeting under which departments attach “real-world performance measures” to each activity and connect outcome goals to budget dollars.
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